Apple

Apple

After 14 years, Apple is once again poised to overtake Samsung as the global leader in terms of smartphone shipments. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple is projected to ship over 243 million iPhones in 2025, which would give it an estimated 19.4% share of the global smartphone market. Samsung, which is the current global leader, is expected to ship 235 million units, which would leave it with an 18.7% market share.

As is always the case with "free" device deals from carriers, it's not really free outright. You'll have to pay for the devices, but you'll get paid back over the course of 36 months in monthly installments (you can find the here). But if you were going to buy any of these devices anyway, this is still a great deal in terms of being paid back over time.

The SE 2 doesn't include all the features of the new SE 3, but it's still a great base model wearable that is perfect for a curious, first-time smartwatch purchaser or a child -- and it's the least expensive Apple Watch you can buy new right now, particularly during Black Friday sales. The SE 2 offers great value for those looking to track basic health and fitness metrics, keep in contact with ease, and benefit from connection to the Apple ecosystem,

Apple will never discount iPads on its official website because maintaining premium pricing forms a core part of the brand strategy that keeps products positioned as luxury tech rather than commodity electronics. But retailers including Amazon occasionally offer legitimate discounts that Apple tolerates, and this year's Black Friday brings unusual price cuts on recent releases including Mac Minis, MacBook Airs, MacBook Pro M5 models, and iPads:

Kerry Wan/ZDNET Black Friday is just two days away, and T-Mobile is getting into the festivities by rolling out what the company calls the "Ultimate Apple Bundle." Starting today, new and existing T-Mobile customers will have the opportunity to receive an , an , and an , completely free of charge. Bought separately, those devices would cost around $2,000. You can choose to get all three devices,

Thanks to Black Friday, Amazon is currently offering a massive 57% discount on the premium Beats Studio Pro, which brings the price down to $150 from $350. Prime members can save an additional $13 with free delivery. It's one of the hottest deals on the retailer right now and is selling out fast. We recommend jumping in on it before the price shoots back up to the not-so-friendly $350 tag.

The M-series laptops have proven to be winners, and while it's not the latest and greatest, the M4 MacBook Air 13 is a great deal at €795. Sure, 256GB storage is admittedly small for a laptop. If you want the adequate 512GB, you'll have to shell out another €230. The iPad Air 11 (2025) is also on offer, for €515. This gets you the baseline 128GB of storage, while the more capable 256GB option costs €639.

The "Mac vs. Windows" debate has been a longstanding feature of the IT landscape since Apple desktops first hit the market, solidified by the iconic "I'm a Mac" ad campaign. Today, though, the idea of it being a binary choice is increasingly irrelevant. With the right support, enterprises can easily have multiple systems that complement rather than contradict each other.

Apple traditionally avoids discounts and maintains full pricing on its official website and retail stores, treating Black Friday like any other day to preserve its premium brand image. Amazon doesn't share that restraint and just slashed the price of the brand-new Mac mini M4 with 256GB storage to $479 from the usual $599, which marks a record low on one of the most powerful compact desktops currently available.

Apple AirPods are awesome for those with iPhones/iPads. They just work well with the system and have some nice features with them.

Apple's latest lineup of Apple Watches drummed up quite the hype when it was announced during its annual iPhone event. Apple unveiled several new features, like emergency SOS communications via satellite connectivity and FDA-cleared hypertension detection. I was in attendance in the Steve Jobs Theater, and as I watched Apple unveil these features, I couldn't help but compare the new watch to Google's Pixel Watch 4. Apple's new satellite SOS feature bears some striking similarities to Google's standalone satellite connectivity, for example.

Picking up the M5 iPad Pro for the first time should come with a wary bystander asking, "are you sure you can handle this thing," as if you were sliding into the driver's seat of an F1 race car. The amount of power under the hood of the newest iPad Pro is that significant, and with Black Friday week kicking off, Amazon is handing you the keys to the 13-inch version with a first-ever $100 price drop to $1,195.

Many of these same people are now hoping that Apple's next CEO will be Apple's current senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus. They see Ternus as a "product guy" like Jobs. Or, probably more accurately, they see Ternus as a "product guy" unlike Cook. But I think that this does Cook a disservice. And for the good of the company, I hope whoever ends up taking the reins is as much like Cook as they are like Jobs.

Ad blocking is in a weird place. Google, the company that makes more money from advertising than any other on Earth, is actively working to make ad blockers worse on Chrome while it also makes it harder to block ads on YouTube. Basically, it's a good time to not use Chrome. So it's nice that Apple users have another choice: Safari. And, as luck would have it, Safari has an extremely efficient API for ad blocking built right in.

Adding a large language model to Shortcuts means it's easier to build automations that can simplify your life. Here's how: How This Works Head to Apple Shortcuts, create a new shortcut, and you'll see "Apple Intelligence" as one of the listed applications that's supported. There are a few Actions related to text, allowing you to do things like proofread, summarize, and make a list from text. You also get the ability to create an image, if you want.

Tesla might be adding Apple CarPlay to its EVs. It's a pretty desired feature21% of owners recently surveyed say they want it in their next car. But is it really a value add for Tesla owners? In case you haven't heard the rumors, Tesla is believed to be actively exploring how to integrate Apple CarPlay into its EVs. The electric automaker has long been one of the biggest opponents of stuffing another company's software into its own technology ecosystem system,

When I got my iPhone 15 Pro Max in September 2023, I decided that I'd do everything I could to make the battery last. Well, an accident destroyed that handset, so I restarted the experiment in March 2024. CNET: iPhone Battery Showdown: 3 Years of Data Show How the iPhone 17 Models Measure Up I wanted to see just how much lifespan I could get out of the battery.

The iPhone 17 Pros bring a relatively significant number of changes to the lineup compared to the previous generation, ushering in a new design and build, some camera improvements, and the usual chipset upgrade. Between the two sizes, the differences aren't all that major, but they add up, so it's worth looking into what sets the 17 Pro apart from the 17 Pro Max, and which one would be best suited to your needs.

Black Friday often brings the best Apple deals of the year, but not everyone wants to spend their Thanksgiving weekend shopping online (or in person). Thankfully, if you want to get a head start, you don't have to wait. As is typical, the early Black Friday deals are already beginning to trickle in, including some of the best deals we've seen all year on Apple devices like the latest entry-level AirPods and new M5-powered MacBook Pro.

We're big fans of refurbished tech here at ZDNET, especially when it comes to laptops. Amazon has rigorous hardware requirements for any of its refurbished devices, so you're not going to get a laptop in bad shape. If there are any parts that don't meet the standard, they're replaced before they go on sale. The laptop itself will be reverted to factory settings, so out of the box it'll be a clean slate.