By the point this text is revealed, there’ll solely be 4 days to go till Black Friday, essentially the most magical and beloved day of the 12 months. I hope you’ve put up your decorations.
At the moment of 12 months, tech followers can choose up bargains (whereas avoiding non-bargains) on merchandise that will in any other case be exterior their finances. However as an Apple fan, I at all times really feel an inexplicable sense of second-hand embarrassment. “Will there be Apple Retailer reductions on iPhones?” associates ask me with naive optimism. No, I’ve to reply. There’ll simply be present playing cards.
That’s to not say that you simply received’t see any reductions on Apple merchandise: there are lots available already. It’s simply that the reductions will probably be provided by different retailers. Purchase direct from Apple and also you’ll pay not one cent lower than MSRP, whereas receiving a reasonably beneficiant present card you should utilize in your subsequent buy. It’s nearly like the corporate desires to assist out its reseller companions by pushing enterprise their method.
This lack of direct reductions shouldn’t come as a shock, after all. Partly as a result of Apple at all times does the present card factor, but in addition as a result of it doesn’t do bargains extra usually. Definitely not within the sense of sudden, time-limited, barely panicky value drops it’s important to pounce on earlier than they’re gone. It merely doesn’t really feel the necessity to compete, both on value or for consideration; after years of nurturing a way of neighborhood, even tribalism, Apple is aware of that prospects will come to it, reasonably than the opposite method round.
Apple doesn’t do out-and-out low cost merchandise, both. Nowadays, you’ll find a completely first rate Android telephone for lower than $250, and even $200 when you’re prepared to make some sacrifices, however that’s not a market Apple is fascinated by. This time final 12 months, the iPhone SE sat on the prime of the finances class, beginning at $429 by March, however that was phased out in favor of the defiantly mid-market (and for my part ill-conceived) $599 iPhone 16e. It fits Apple’s functions to deal with promoting a smaller variety of higher-margin handsets, figuring out that every iPhone proprietor represents a micro-advert to their associates. Extremely-budget telephones should not aspirational.
All of this may make it sound like I subscribe to the concept of the Apple Tax, that proverbial premium supposedly added on to the costs of iPhones, Macs, and the like for no good purpose apart from Apple prospects being gullible sufficient to pay it. However I don’t. Apple doesn’t do low cost, however that doesn’t imply it doesn’t do worth, as we’ve seen this previous 12 months particularly. Cupertino steers away from the true finances market however constantly affords robust worth with its mid-market merchandise.
My favourite launch of 2025, for instance, is the Apple Watch SE 3, which delivers a lot bang for its 249 bucks that I used to be obliged to advise readers to decide on it over the fuller-featured Collection 11. You don’t must pay $399 to get a wonderful watch as a result of Apple has considerably raised its recreation on the lower cost level.
There’s additionally the iPhone 17, which begins on the similar $799 however has a slew of upgrades over final 12 months’s mannequin, together with double the storage, a pro-caliber show, and a higher-end selfie digicam. It’s a unbelievable worth.
This 12 months’s M4 MacBook Air, which received a brand new chip and an upgraded digicam, truly noticed a value drop of $100 in contrast with the earlier model, which is principally exceptional in Cupertino. Apple followers can now get the latest-generation Air for beneath a grand (or proper now beneath $750 when you reap the benefits of Amazon’s Black Friday sale.) Don’t get me fallacious: Chromebook costs these should not. However you received’t discover a tax for the sake of a model identify both.
Having dispelled that specific fable, it turns into much less of a shock to listen to experiences that Apple is planning to launch a cluster of low cost merchandise within the spring of 2026. And by low cost, after all, I imply sensibly reasonably priced: $599 for the iPhone 17e, $699-$899 for the brand new finances MacBook, and hopefully not rather more than $349 for the newly AI-compliant Eleventh-gen iPad.
So positive: they’re not the kind of costs that make you set your alarm on Black Friday. They’re not doorbuster offers. However they’re good merchandise at good costs, and that’s one thing to be praised all 12 months spherical.
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which incorporates all of the Apple information you missed final week in a useful bite-sized roundup. We name it Apple Breakfast as a result of we expect it goes nice with a Monday morning cup of espresso or tea, nevertheless it’s cool if you wish to give it a learn throughout lunch or dinner hours too.
Trending: High tales
Right here they’re: the 12 most ridiculously overpriced Apple merchandise, ranked.
How Filipe Esposito’s first iPod contact made him love Apple eternally.
Mahmoud Itani lastly switched from a MacBook to an iPad Professional, and he’s not going again.
John Brandon used Google Gemini to design the subsequent iPhone. Listed here are the hilarious outcomes.
Choice key secrets and techniques: Get extra out of your Mac with these hidden shortcuts.
The iPhone Air is doomed as a result of one man returned it.
Alex Blake lists 6 causes why your new Mac wants a second storage drive.
Podcast of the week
The Thanksgiving vacation is that this week within the U.S., so we spent the newest episode of the Macworld Podcast speaking about issues to be glad about.
You possibly can catch each episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our personal web site.
Evaluations nook
Better of 2025-2026: Should-have merchandise for Mac, iPhone & iPad examined by Macworld.
Cosmic Orange present information: 30 items to match the ultra-bright iPhone 17 Professional.
The rumor mill
Apple could lastly let customers swap from Siri to one other voice assistant.
Apple Health+ may get reduce and rolled right into a larger Well being+ service.
Don’t anticipate the Apple Watch to vary a lot for the subsequent two years.
Tim Prepare dinner goes to retire in some unspecified time in the future, however in all probability not subsequent 12 months.
Video of the week
What was your first ever Apple product? And which one made you are feeling like an Apple individual? For Jason Cross it was the Apple IIe–however we need to hear from you. Be part of the dialog on TikTok or Instagram.
Software program updates, bugs, and issues
Be careful for this intelligent and harmful new ‘Apple Assist’ hoax.
These new AI options are coming to macOS Tahoe 26.2 and Mac Studio.
PSA for Apple followers: It’s time to replace your keyboard and trackpad.
Apple hit with huge tremendous over Apple Watch dispute.
And with that, we’re performed for this week’s Apple Breakfast. For those who’d prefer to get common roundups, join our newsletters, together with our new e mail from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous tackle the newest information and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can too observe us on Fb, Threads, Bluesky, or X for dialogue of breaking Apple information tales. See you subsequent Monday, and keep Appley.
