If Apple sticks to the tried and tested plans of recent years we can expect it to release a slew of new software updates this fall, one of which will surely be the macOS 15 software for the Mac computers. Apple is set to preview the changes at WWDC on June 10, but we might not have to wait that long to get a feel for what's in store.

According to a new report by AppleInsider, Apple is planning a number of changes for the big release including one that will be welcome news to many. The System Settings app has been lambasted by many since it replaced the familiar System Preferences, and now the report says that Apple intends to make some changes this year.

One of the changes coming to System Settings is the removal of the Apple ID section with a new Apple Account section taking its place. There are also going to be changes throughout the System Settings app to accommodate new Apple Account settings and features, we're told, with new animations or redesigned interface elements arriving. AppleInsider also believes that the Apple Account rebrand will see the arrival of a new feature called Printable Account Recovery Summary, or PARS. It's not yet clear what that feature will be but it's likely designed to give users easier access to important account information.

Apple has long been rumored to be working on its first foldable device, but it won't be a phone or a tablet as other companies have brought to the market. Instead, it'll be a foldable laptop. We'd been told to expect that Apple would sell the laptop with a large 20.25-inch foldable display but now a new report suggests that Apple will instead shrink that display to 18.76 inches.

A recent report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple was working on testing both sizes of display which could have suggested that both would reach the market. However, in a paywalled X post that was picked up by 9to5Mac, display analyst Ross Young says that Apple has ditched the 20.25-inch display plans in favor of one that's smaller at 18.76 inches.

Young has a strong track record of detailing Apple's plans based on information gleaned from within the display supply chain and he believes that Apple has now settled on the smaller 18.76 display or, more likely, a rounded figure of 18.8 inches.

The Navi 48 and 44 GPUs have been confirmed by AMD - kind of - to be the only chips that'll make up Team Red's next-gen range of graphics cards with its RDNA 4 architecture.

VideoCardz noticed that Kepler flagged up on X (formerly Twitter) that in an update for its ROCm software, AMD specifically mentions Navi 44 and Navi 48 as gfx1200 and gfx1201 respectively.

There are no other chips in the update, so that all but confirms that Team Red is keeping things down to just Navi 44 and 48, as all rumors have pointed to for some time now.

Apple is yet to enter the world of the foldable phone and there is little to suggest that it intends to change that any time soon. But Apple is indeed reportedly working on a foldable device of some sort and that's believed to be an all-screen laptop. We've seen reports of a potential 20-inch foldable device before, and now a new report by the usually well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Apple is also testing a foldable laptop with an 18.8-inch display.

Ming-Chi Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple is still working on a 20.25-inch option with LG Display being the exclusive panel supplier. But the smaller model is also being considered with the two different foldable panels corresponding to the design of 14- to 15-inch and 13- to 14-inch laptops. What's more, he believes that Apple is aiming to have the displays ready for assembly towards the end of 2025 or early 2026 which means these laptops could go on sale in just a couple of years.

In a lengthy Medium post detailing Apple's plans, Kuo said that Apple is working to put the M4 family of chips into the new laptop. Apple is expected to launch new M4 machines later this year, but the bulk of the lineup - including new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs - won't go M4 until 2025. That would then leave Apple's M5 ready for a 2026 debut.

Following its launch in Japan just a few days ago, Apple has today launched its Tap to Pay on iPhone feature in Canada for the very first time. The feature offers small businesses a new, easy way to accept contactless payments via bank cards, mobile wallets, and Apple Pay using nothing more than their iPhones.

The feature is already available in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, the U.K., and Ukraine and the expansion will surely continue. Apple's press release says that businesses will be able to accept Tap to Pay on iPhone using apps from Adyen, Moneris, Stripe, and Square at launch while Aurus, Chase, Fiserv, and Helcim will all come online in the coming months.

Accepting Tap to Pay on iPhone payments is easy for businesses so long as they have an iPhone XS or newer that has also been updated to the latest version of iOS that it supports. Payments are handled securely using similar technology to that which powers Appl Pay, but other payment methods like contactless cards are also supported.

Apple iPhone owners in Japan may one day be allowed to install third-party app marketplaces if new legislation goes ahead. The move would mimic that of the European Union and the Digital Markets Act. That act means that third-party app stores are now available across 27 member countries and it now appears that Japanese officials may bring similar legislation to their country as well.

A Japan Times report says that the legislation is currently being debated in parliament and that it would apply to Google as well as Apple. The bill has been submitted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and would force dominant platforms, like those operated by Apple and Google, to allow third-party app markets as well as alternative payment options. The move would also prevent technology companies from giving preferential treatment to their own products, the report explains.

Developers have long argued that Apple's high fees and App Store restrictions inhibit innovation, with those in Japan suggesting that they would be able to reduce the prices they charge customers as a result of third-party App Store alternatives. It remains to be seen whether that is how things would ultimately pan out however, especially if Apple chooses to roll a similar system out to the one that's in use in the EU. There, Apple charges a core technology fee and other fees to reduce the loss of revenue that comes about as a result of apps being sold outside of the App Store.

Windows 11 24H2 is entering the final phase of testing ahead of its likely fall release later this year, and Microsoft has made a big move with Copilot.

In preview build 26100, which is now in the Release Preview channel (the last stage before general availability), Copilot has been transformed into a fully standalone app.

That means the AI assistant is no longer confined to a panel at the right side of the desktop, but it's now in its own window which can be moved around the desktop and resized, just like any other app.

Activision has taken to its official Call of Duty X, formerly Twitter, account to share a short teaser video that confirms the next Call of Duty.

The above teaser video was released only an hour ago, and it confirms the next Call of Duty will be called Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which Activision writes will bring in "a dark new chapter of the Black Ops franchise." The coming Call of Duty is rumored to be releasing this October on the following platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. The reason that's worth mentioning is because of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, which led many to believe that Call of Duty was going to become an Xbox and PC exclusive, only to be released on PlayStation at a later date, but that isn't the case.

The current agreement Microsoft is under is to continue launching the Call of Duty franchise on multiple platforms. As for Black Ops 6, there isn't much officially known about the now highly anticipated game, but we are scheduled to find out more about it at the Xbox Games Showcase penciled in for June 9. Rumors indicate that Black Ops 6 will take players, at least in part, to the Gulf War.

Former Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt have predicted that artificial intelligence-powered systems will become so advanced that they will be placed on military bases and guarded with barb-wire and machine guns.

The former head of Google sat down for an interview with Noema Magazine, where he weighed in on the current explosion of AI. Schmidt said that developments in AI will eventually exceed the level the US government is comfortable putting in the hands of a citizen without discrete permission, and the general advancements in AI will reach a point where the system is so incredibly advanced it will have to be housed in an army base, powered by a form of nuclear energy, and protected by military forces.

Additionally, the former Google head said that it's important to keep the capabilities of AI out of the hands of the US's adversaries, which is something that is currently being reflected with the US government implementing export restrictions on the most powerful AI chips to China, in an effort to prevent China getting the upper-hand in the race to develop the most-advanced AI system.

Microsoft recently unveiled a suite of new PCs integrated with its new artificial intelligence, Copilot+. The first batch of new PCs are coming in the form of AI laptops, and the ones available are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite SoC. It's expected Intel and AMD will release their own versions later this year.

The X Elite was recently put up against Apple's MacBook Air M3 by benchmarking and analysis company Signal64. Ryan Shrout, a former Intel employee and President & GM of Signal65 headed the report, which was commissioned by Microsoft. A common move by companies that want to legitimize the claims they are making about their products.

The report found the X Elite outperformed Apple's M3 silicon in a variety of different tests, with the X Elite-powered Surface Laptop surviving over 21 hours in a local video playback test, which is 15% longer than a MacBook Air M3 and twice as long as the Surface Pro 9. Notably, the X Elite did lose to the M3 silicon in single-core performance in both Cinebench and Geekbench by approximately 15%. However, in multi-core performance, the X Elite was found to be more than 30% faster than Apple's M3.