Apple’s new desktops arrived on Tuesday, Beats launched a new over-ear headphone, and owners of iPhone 18 Pro Max picked up a setting they will need if they ever have to post the phone.
The new Mac mini and Mac Studio are on sale
The Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro, and the Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra, went on sale on Tuesday, 22 September, in Apple Stores, on apple.com/au and through authorised resellers. The M6 mini starts at $1,449 including GST, and the M5 Pro model at $2,699. Education pricing on the M6 mini starts at $1,289.
Mac Studio with M5 Max starts at $4,299, and the M5 Ultra model at $9,499. The Ultra configuration with 512GB of unified memory is not due until late October. Both desktops get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and the Studio adds Thunderbolt 5, with support for up to eight displays. The M6 mini starts with 16GB of unified memory, configurable to 32GB and above, and Apple is pitching it as a desk-side machine for everyday work as well as on-device AI. They ship with macOS 27 Golden Gate, which is already on sale, including Siri AI in English. Students and educators can also get education pricing on Mac Studio, starting at $3,949 for the M5 Max model and $8,809 for the Ultra.
Beats 360 arrives, at $499.95
Beats 360 became available to order on Tuesday, in black, cloud, pink and sky, at $499.95 including GST, with in-store availability from Thursday, 24 September. They are Beats’ first sweat- and water-resistant over-ear headphones, rated IPX4, with interchangeable ear and headband cushions and what Beats calls its most advanced noise cancellation yet. Beats says the noise cancellation is up to 1.75 times that of Beats Studio Pro, and battery life is up to 32 hours. That is a high price for a Beats headphone, but the interchangeable cushions are the feature Apple is leaning on.
A new setting if you need to ship a Pro Max
The iPhone 18 Pro Max has a battery larger than 20 watt-hours, which brings extra shipping rules. Apple uses firmware to hold the battery below that threshold until the phone is activated. If you later need to send one in for repair, trade-in or any other shipment, a new Prepare to Ship feature discharges the battery and caps charging so it stays under the limit in transit. Activating the phone removes the limit and restores full capacity. It is worth knowing about before you book a courier, particularly if you are sending the phone interstate or back to Apple.
Australia’s 18 Pro Max gets Apple’s own modem
After some confusion on the spec pages, Apple has made the modem split clear. The iPhone 18 Pro, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max sold here and in every other market except the United States, use Apple’s C2 modem. Only the US Pro Max still uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X80, the modem from the iPhone 17 Pro models. Apple has not said why. If you buy a Pro Max in Australia, you are getting C2.
What to watch next week
iPhone Duo pre-orders are still a few weeks away, on Friday, 16 October. In the meantime, it is worth watching for the first patch to iOS 27, especially if anything on a new iPhone 18 Pro is not behaving as it should.
