Inhaltsverzeichnis für February 2026 in Macworld UK

There’s no doubt that in the five years since the M1 chip (fave.co/3YH0j6w), Apple silicon has changed the MacBook in radical ways. We’ve seen a massive performance uptick compared to the prior Intel chips, phenomenal battery life, and cool and quiet performance. The difference is day and night. But after a few years, we’ve gotten used to the improvements. Each Apple silicon chip feels impressive, but nowhere near as exciting as it used to be. In some ways, we’ve come to take it all for granted. We can see that reflected in the M5 MacBook Pro (fave.co/46gdnVu). Both before and after it launched, this device was framed as an iterative update with very little to differentiate it from the M4 version. We were told to just expect a chip refresh…

If you’re the type of power user who’s been keeping an eye on the next Mac Pro upgrade, it’s time to make other plans. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports (fave.co/45mQ2A9) that the Mac Pro is basically dead, as Apple has “largely written off” its desktop tower and believes its target audience is fully served by the Mac Studio. That news isn’t so surprising, considering how Apple has handled the Mac Pro in the past decade. When the Mac Pro debuted in 2006 (fave.co/45k4oRO) with an Intel CPU, it was regularly upgraded on a one- or two-year basis until Apple decided to think different and released the cylindrical Mac Pro in 2013 (fave.co/3G6nBYP). That Mac got incremental upgrades, but its design created limitations on the upgrades it could receive. The company eventually…

If Apple’s Magic Keyboard isn’t quite hitting the spot for you, branching out into the world of mechanical keyboards is often a good bet. The Lemokey L1 HE (fave.co/48SRahe) is a premium option with a price tag to match, but it’s overflowing with high-end features that promise to elevate your typing experience. Let’s start with the aspect that’s most apparent when you first unbox this keyboard: its phenomenal weight. It’s built like a tank, with an all-aluminum chassis and barely a strip of plastic in sight. It tipped the scales at a smidge over 2 kg (just under 4.5 lbs), and chances are it’s the heaviest keyboard you’ll ever use. There’s no need to worry about it shifting around your desk in day-to-day usage—this thing is staying put, no matter…

I’m known as the Apple guy in my social circle. Friends and family routinely ask for purchasing advice, and I often end up reviewing their iPhones to see whether they’re missing useful apps, features, or settings. In many cases, I find people misusing their devices or disabling core functions due to unfounded worries. You have probably heard at least one of these 12 misconceptions before, and if you’re new to iOS or simply unsure how the platform works, you might believe them. Let us give you a clearer understanding of how your iPhone operates. 1. APP-CLOSING ASSUMPTIONS I frequently hear users—particularly recent switchers accustomed to Android—complain about needing to close iPhone apps manually. Many Android phones have long offered a button to close all active apps at once, while iOS…

You may not think much about it, but the virtual keyboard is one of the most essential parts of how the iPhone works. Over the years, Apple has made countless refinements to make typing easier, from auto-correct and predictive suggestions to swipe typing and smarter layouts. However, since the release of iOS 26 last September, a growing number of users have been complaining that something feels off. If you’ve noticed more typos than usual, you’re not alone. And it turns out there really is a bug affecting the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. TYPING THE RIGHT LETTER, BUT GETTING THE WRONG ONE INSTEAD A YouTuber named Michi NekoMichi recently shared a video compiling complaints about the iPhone keyboard. According to NekoMichi’s video, he is “making more mistakes than usual” when typing in…

ESR follows up its 15W Qi2 3-in-1 Charging Stations with a new Q12 25W (Qi 2.2) version that will shave some iPhone charging time off your schedule, while pepping up your Apple Watch and AirPods at the same time. The popular 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Set was first available as a 7.5W MagSafe-compatible charger, then as a faster 15W Qi2 version. That was swiftly followed by a newer version boasting the company’s own CryoBoost cooling technology that pushed it to the top of our charging speed charts. ESR has now refined that speedy 3-in-1 charger with the 25W wireless standard alongside the temperature-controlling CryoBoost. STAYING COOL The biggest efficiency blocker in wireless charging is heat. If a device is too hot or too cold, wireless charging and indeed general battery performance…

Whereas the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (fave.co/48W89hi) offered very minimal upgrades three years ago, the Ultra 3 is a complete overhaul of Apple’s rugged outdoor smartwatch. In addition to the expected leap to a new chip, the manufacturer has given the device a longer-lasting battery and a bigger and better screen. There is also new connectivity that could come in handy on wilderness hikes. In addition to the switch from LTE to 5G, the smartwatch can use satellite connections to contact emergency services or share your location with contacts. So it’s not a minor update. But is it a worthwhile one? Read on to find out. BIGGER AND BETTER DISPLAY If you place the Ultra 1 and Ultra 3 next to each other, you’ll notice how thin the display edges…

The Wavlink USB-C DisplayLink (DL7400) is a full docking station with an impressive 14 ports, including two DisplayPort++ 1.4 ports and two HDMI 2.1 ports, that can support up to four external 4K displays at 60Hz—even with an Apple-limited single-display M1 MacBook Air. We have tested other DisplayLink docks that support up to four external monitors, but none that achieve that feat on Apple’s M1 and M2 MacBook Air models. Apple limits its MacBooks equipped with plain (non-Pro or Max) M1 and M2 processors to just one external display, but one of the workarounds this constraint is connecting via a DisplayLink dock. DisplayLink is third-party software that enables Macs to support more screens than Apple allows for, and you need a dock with a DisplayLink chipset to connect the Mac…

Compared to the iPhone and its complex functions, the Apple TV 4K (fave.co/46vo8kU) is a relatively simple device. You’ve got a simple Home Screen with large icons, a few menus across apps, and just not much to set up, really. Nevertheless, tvOS enables power users to customize certain UI elements, system behavior, the Siri Remote, and more. Here are some of the essential settings tweaks that can help you personalize your Apple TV experience in as little as 15 minutes. 1. CUSTOMIZE THE SIRI REMOTE Before getting started, you’ll want to ensure that your Apple TV’s bundled Siri Remote behaves as expected. Head to the Settings app and visit the Remotes and Devices section. There, you can optionally speed up or turn off the remote’s touch surface after testing its…

Apple might have owned the Beats brand since 2014, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the lineup. Over the past few years, Apple has largely kept the Beats identity intact. Last summer, Apple gave the Beats Pill speaker (fave.co/4pOfl6p) a new lease on life, and earlier this year, it gave the Powerbeats Pro 2 (fave.co/46mZRPX) a heart-rate sensor before its own AirPods Pro (fave.co/4hWwnMA). This week, Apple’s Beats launched the newest member of the non-AirPods family, the Powerbeats Fit. If the Powerbeats Fit look familiar, that’s because they are. Beats is revamping the excellent Beats Fit Pro (fave.co/3CMMFny) to bring them under the umbrella of the high-end Powerbeats brand. I had the chance to try out the new earbuds at an event held by Apple and Beats and…

You have undoubtedly heard about the recent massive spike in RAM prices (fave.co/3YFrXkp). RAM for consumer devices like desktops, laptops, graphics cards, and smartphones (DDR, GDDR, and LPDDR memory) has skyrocketed in recent weeks. Prices are 50 to 100 percent higher than they were back in the summer, with some premium 32GB DDR5 kits (fave.co/4qpg4uN) going for as much as $400 at Amazon! The problem, as it so often is, traces back to AI. The massive rush to build more AI data centers at all costs has already increased demand for water (http://fave.co/3Y822BG) and electricity (http://fave.co/4apb9Fx), and previously sucked up much of the supply chain for the chips we use in consumer devices. RAM appears to be the latest culprit. AI data centers are using up a lot of the…

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming digital workspaces, boosting efficiency and streamlining workflows. It has become a vital asset (and increasingly an expectation) for workflows, but AI still often requires human oversight. Like many other software companies, Adobe is joining the revolution by developing and integrating native AI features into Photoshop. Generative Fill is the highlight AI feature in Photoshop. Powered by Adobe Firefly, the tool lets you create images and insert them into projects using simple text prompts. More recently, the company unveiled three new AI perks: Harmonize, Generative Upscale, and an improved object eraser. I’ve put them all to the test to see how well (or terribly) they perform, and whether creatives will appreciate the output quality. The AI features are part of the latest version of the software.…

Since the debut of the TrueDepth camera system with the iPhone X, the front-facing camera has mostly seen incremental upgrades. Features like Night mode, Photographic Styles, sharper image quality, and 4K video have trickled in over the years, but the overall selfie experience has remained largely unchanged. Instead, Apple has focused most of its innovation on the rear-facing Pro camera system, pushing the boundaries of mobile photography and videography. With the latest iPhone models, that strategy changed in a big way. Apple has added a slew of new front-camera improvements to all of its new phones, not just the highest-end 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max variants. Not sure what they are or what they do? Here’s a breakdown of all the fresh selfie camera additions bundled with your new…

Apple has formally announced (fave.co/4j8xycm) that John Giannandrea, its senior vice president of machine learning and AI, is stepping down from his position. He will serve as an adviser to the company before retiring in the spring. Giannandrea will not be directly replaced by a senior vice president role, but by a vice president: Amar Subramanya. Subramanya was at Google for 16 years and made a name for himself as a prominent AI researcher. This summer, he joined Microsoft as corporate vice president of AI. Now, after just six months, he’s joining Apple. Subramanya was a principal member of the team that created Gemini (released in 2023) and Imagen 3 at Google. In other words, after OpenAI caught the industry off guard with ChatGPT, he appears to have been instrumental…

Tired of modern life and yearning for the old days when a phone was a phone and not a computer full of tempting apps and beeping notifications? Frustrated by a cricked neck or strained wrist from doing all your talking on a thin rectangular slab of metal and glass, or dreaming of the ergonomic delight of a phone with proper earpieces and mouthpieces that nestles to the side of your head? One of Macworld’s favorite Apple accessory makers, Native Union, has relaunched the vintage phone handset—it works with today’s devices to make comfortable calls feel like proper conversations again. FORGET YOU’RE ON AN iPHONE The POP Phone is big and chunky and available in a range of bold colors that bring personality back to making phone calls. With it in…

A few years ago, if you had told me that in 2026 we’d be chatting with our documents, I would’ve giggled and questioned your sanity. Now it’s the new norm, with companies like OpenAI and Google letting you upload files to their AI platforms and have their chatbots analyze their contents on your behalf. To maintain its dominance in the productivity space, Adobe has launched a similar AI-centric service called Acrobat Studio. Like OpenAI’s ChatGPT Projects and Google’s NotebookLM, Acrobat Studio lets you upload multiple documents to a dedicated digital space. You can then ask the AI chatbot questions about the uploaded information, sparing you from manually reading long walls of text. The subscription also bundles other Adobe services, like Express Premium, the full PDF editing toolbox, 250 generative credits…

Whether it’s the kids’ videos, Mom’s holiday photos, or Dad’s music collection, a family can quickly accumulate large amounts of data. Then there are the backups of all the devices found in a modern home. A Network Attached Storage (NAS) system (fave.co/4fvVbIG) is usually a better solution than directly connected hard drives or even SSDs because it’s a lot cheaper than renting expensive cloud storage and tidier and more convenient than hosting a stack of external hard drives. NAS was once primarily the preserve of professionals but is now increasingly finding its way into private households. This is partly due to the simpler setup but also to falling prices—as seen in two of the Ugreen DH series of NAS drives: the DH2300 and DH4300 Plus. From the entry-level $209 two-bay…

The late 1980s and early to mid-1990s were Apple’s weirdest and wildest era. Wedged between the triumph of the original Macintosh (fave.co/3WbFqiw) and the return of Steve Jobs was a sort of period of Wilderness Years when the company flailed all over the place, ultimately flaming out and requiring the now-famous rescue by its co-founder. To be sure, 1990s Apple was a company with a load of problems, from out-of-control research labs building unsellable products to fruitless quests for software stacks that would reinvent documents and replace Mac OS itself. But that era of calamity and excess was also the source of some real gems, including the product that debuted 34 years ago, on Dec. 2, 1991: QuickTime. PREHISTORY OF MULTIMEDIA If you’re under the age of 40, you probably…

Audio Pro recently updated its entire range of speakers with a new “W Generation” that puts the emphasis on wireless connectivity and streaming. We liked its C10 MKII W (fave.co/49qwWvp), which provides hi-fi sound quality in a compact, one-piece design that makes it a good rival for Apple’s HomePod. But, of course, many people still prefer proper stereo speakers, and Audio Pro’s new range does include a number of stereo speakers of different sizes, starting with the new A28 W at $720/£500. The A28 W is described as a set of bookshelf speakers, but they’re fairly large, with each speaker standing 238mm high, 150mm wide, and 200mm deep. The two speakers just about fit onto my desk, sitting on either side of my 27-inch iMac, but they’ll be more at…

One of the coolest new features of iOS 26 (fave.co/44uVU9u) is the ability to do live, real-time translation in its most critical communications apps. This new capability runs entirely on device, so none of your sensitive communications go anywhere. And it works in multiple apps and even on multiple devices. With iOS 26 and the latest AirPods firmware, you can live-translate spoken languages with AirPods Pro 2 and 3, or AirPods 4 with ANC. But you don’t need a pair of AirPods to do Live Translation—you can also use your iPhone to get live translation in FaceTime and Messages, as well as during phone calls. Here’s how it works. LIVE TRANSLATION IN PHONE CALLS The most obvious application is in the Phone app. When you call someone speaking a foreign…

The Mac rumor mill has been going into overdrive lately, with information about Apple’s release schedule for 2026 (fave.co/3MM3w2c). We’ve heard reports about every Mac in the lineup (including the enigmatic Mac Pro, fave.co/3MZlgah), except for one: the iMac. Not a peep about Apple’s iconic all-in-one desktop computer. The current M4 iMac (fave.co/4iUdXeY) was released back in 2024, and Apple released the M5 MacBook Pro (fave.co/3MMvUkF) in November. An M5 update to the iMac certainly seems timely, and it’s entirely possible that Apple will release it sometime next year, perhaps along with the M5 MacBook Air (fave.co/4mfrNKt) in the spring. Or maybe not. Given that we haven’t heard any rumors about an upcoming iMac, Apple might now have a different approach to its product cycle. When you consider Apple’s past…

We’ve seen a few solid-state drives (fave.co/47H8IL0) that support the latest Thunderbolt 5 standard (fave.co/40Tx3eO) in recent months, such as LaCie’s own Rugged SSD Pro5 (fave.co/3JoquLc), but Thunderbolt 5 drives are still pretty expensive—and, of course, there’s currently only a handful of Mac models that actually support Thunderbolt 5 right now (although Apple is widely rumored to be launching a number of new MacBook Pro models, fave.co/4p0YVX7, as I sit here writing this review). If you don’t have Thunderbolt 5 on your Mac, or you don’t want to pay a premium for Thunderbolt 5 performance, then LaCie’s Rugged SSD4 is a more affordable option that opts for USB4 rather than Thunderbolt, but can still provide good performance for backing up all your important files. Prices for the Rugged SSD4 start…

OWC STUDIOSTACK owc.com The StudioStack is shaped so it sits perfectly atop a Mac Studio but it can be used with any Mac. Available in a variety of storage configurations with an SSD, Hard drive, or both, the StudioStack also serves as a Thunderbolt 5 hub. —ROMAN LOYOLA VUEPHORIA VFRAMEL vuephoria.co This digital frame has a 10.1-inch HD video display for video playback, along with one or two slots for a still photo. The frame connects to your iPhone so you can control the videos it plays. Available as a wall mount or desk mount. —ROMAN LOYOLA STATIONPC POCKETCLOUD stationpc.com This portable network-attached storage device is handy for remote jobs where a shared storage device is an important part of the project at hand. It has two slots for M.2…

When Apple introduced the new iPhone 17 (fave.co/49YHXVo) and iPhone 17 Pro/Max (fave.co/4qmIciP), it highlighted their even faster fast-charging abilities. With an appropriate USB-C charger that can deliver at least 40 watts, it can charge up to 50 percent in just 20 minutes, where prior iPhones took 30 minutes (50 percent longer). It also introduced an intriguing new power adapter. The 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max (fave.co/3MQvxpl) is nothing if not confusing. It’s small—surprisingly so for an Apple charger with this capacity—and seemingly made for iPhones. But what does “60W max” even mean? If it can go up to 60 watts, shouldn’t it just be called a 60-watt power adapter? And what is it even for, if none of the new phones need it to charge as quickly…

The big news in wireless charging is Qi 2.2 (or Qi2 25W, as some are calling it, fave.co/3PyXYqp). It’s the latest version of the Qi2 wireless charging standard that increases charging speed from its previous 15W maximum to 25W, close to what you get from wired cable charging for phones and other mobile devices. Apple was first to bring 25W wireless charging to market on its MagSafe Charger alongside the iPhone 16 launch, which was followed by the Qi 2.2 standard. Qi2.2 promised all sorts of multi-function fast wireless chargers (fave.co/3vXHzkx), such as the Belkin UltraCharge Pro 3-in-1 Charging Dock (fave.co/4hNGRy1). The first power bank to be certified as Qi 2.2 compliant is Ugreen’s MagFlow Magnetic Wireless Power Bank (10000mAh, Qi2 25W). We tested it to discover whether the benefits…

In contrast to the iPhone Air, this year’s new flagship Apple Watch sprang few surprises. The Series 11 is very much more of the same, in most respects following the same formula as 2024’s excellent (and also conservative) Series 10 (fave.co/3ARav4d) and breaking very little new ground. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course. The Apple Watch has always been a high-quality product capable of effortlessly dominating its market. And while aesthetically speaking, the Apple Watch has evolved at a glacial pace, its design has a timeless charm. If the Series 11 can only address the few weaknesses of the previous model while delivering top-tier performance, it should earn a hearty recommendation. So let’s find out. In our in-depth Apple Watch Series 11 review, we put the device through…

Thunderbolt 5 represents a more significant performance boost over Thunderbolt 4 than 4 was over 3. The latest MacBook Pro models, M4 Pro Mac mini, and M4 Mac Studio all boast Thunderbolt 5 ports, bringing with them up to 80Gbps data-transfer speeds and 120Gbps video bandwidth. Today, even MacBooks come with enough ports for most people, but professional users or people with the need for multiple external displays and/or fast storage may find a separate docking station is required to add all the connections they need without using up all the ports on their main computer. The best Mac Thunderbolt docking stations (fave.co/3h1wVoY) are loaded with fast ports, bringing extra Thunderbolt, USB-C, USB-A, 2.5Gb Ethernet, card readers, and audio ports. The CalDigit TS5 Plus (fave.co/47mZBPN) has a staggering 20! All…

We all have too many cables in the house…until you suddenly need one, and then they all mysteriously morph into the ones you don’t need: Why did I even keep a USB-A to USB-A cable? The Rolling Square inCharge XL may be all you need, and it shouldn’t be easy to lose. CHARGE THEM ALL This is a 6-in-1 cable claims to have it all: two inputs (USB-C and USB-A) and three outputs (USB-C, Lightning, and MicroUSB), giving you the following charging solutions: > USB-C to USB-C (100W) > USB-C to Lightning (27W) > USB-C to MicroUSB (10W) > USB-A to USB-C (18W) > USB-A to Lightning (18W) > USB-A to Micro USB (10W) EU law and common sense means we should all soon be doing all our wired connections…

A new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg (fave.co/4jkDvmQ) makes a claim that might be the hardest to believe yet: Tesla is working to add wireless CarPlay to its vehicles. Tesla was one of the first major carmakers to specifically shun CarPlay, building its own ground-up infotainment software that incorporates maps, navigation, streaming music, and more. Controlling the full in-car experience from top to bottom has long been a point of pride for the brand, and others (such as EV startup Rivian) soon followed suit. In recent years, massive automaker GM made the decision to drop CarPlay (fave.co/48XBKHa) from all new vehicles in favor of its own in-house infotainment system. The phase-out is expected to be complete within a few years. So it’s certainly strange that Tesla is discussing a…

Back in September, when macOS 26 Tahoe (fave.co/40tNQ7w) arrived for download on my MacBook, I installed it along with millions of other people. I didn’t give it a second thought—I have an M3 Max MacBook Pro with 36GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Running Tahoe shouldn’t be an issue. But it was. Almost immediately from the first day I installed it, I experienced intermittent freezes lasting a second or two that would interrupt whatever I was doing. I couldn’t tie it down to a single app, and it was difficult to predict. Some days it would happen numerous times each hour, but other days it wouldn’t happen much at all. I tried all the usual tricks—closing apps, restarting, shutting down—and of course I immediately updated to macOS 26.0.1, all…

When Apple introduced the iPhone 15 Pro (fave.co/47b2amy), it retired the classic mute switch, which had been part of the iPhone design since the very first model. These days, all iPhones feature a customizable Action button, which users can freely remap to various different actions. Some of the default actions include muting the iPhone, toggling a Focus mode, launching the Camera app, recognizing a song, recording audio, and translating speech. While these actions are sufficient for many users, the pros may find them lackluster. Fortunately, iOS supports deeper customizations through Apple’s Shortcuts app, allowing the Action button to perform a practically infinite number of tasks. Once you understand the logic behind the feature, you should be able to build and assign any desired shortcut. GENERIC CONTROL CENTER TOGGLES If you…