Apple News, July 2026

July was a busy month in Apple land: the first public beta of iOS 27 went live, Apple Intelligence got the green light for China, Apple passed a $5 trillion market valuation, and the month ended with the final quarterly results and Tim Cook’s farewell as CEO. Here’s the roundup.

iOS 27 public beta is here

On July 13, Apple launched the first public beta of iOS 27, available for iPhone 11 and newer. The biggest change is a fully revamped Siri with its own AI app, along with improved parental control options in Screen Time, new AI photo editing tools, and cleaner tabs in Safari. Analysts describe iOS 27 as a “Snow Leopard” style update, with the focus on stability and performance rather than a flood of new features. The final release is expected on September 14, alongside the new iPhones.

Want to try it out? You can join for free through the Apple Beta Software Program, which you can turn on via Settings > Software Update.

Apple Intelligence approved in China

On July 16, China’s regulator (the Cyberspace Administration of China) approved Apple’s AI services. Thanks to a partnership with Alibaba, its Qwen language model will be integrated into iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS for users in China. Baidu also confirmed it is contributing to Apple Intelligence features for that market. This finally allows Apple Intelligence to roll out in one of its most important markets, where it had been blocked until now.

iOS 26.6 in its final testing phase

Alongside iOS 27, Apple is also testing iOS 26.6, a smaller update focused on bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements. It’s expected to arrive around July 27 for anyone who hasn’t switched to the iOS 27 beta yet.

Apple Upgrade: new leasing program for iPhone, Mac, iPad and Watch

On July 28, Apple launched Apple Upgrade in the United States, a new leasing program in partnership with Klarna. An iPhone can be leased from $17.99 a month, an Apple Watch and iPad from $11.99, and a Mac from $24.99, with terms ranging from 12 to 36 months depending on the product. The existing iPhone Upgrade Program closed to new sign-ups the same day, though current members can keep using it for now. Entry-level models such as the Apple Watch SE and the iPhone 16 are not part of the new program.

Apple hits $5 trillion market cap milestone

Also on July 28, Apple shares briefly pushed the company’s market cap past $5 trillion, making it only the second company ever to reach that level after Nvidia. The stock peaked at $342.89, less than a year after Apple crossed the $4 trillion mark in October 2025. The roughly 24 percent rise since January is largely credited to strong iPhone sales, coming shortly after Apple reclaimed the title of world’s most valuable public company.

Tim Cook’s final earnings call: record revenue, falling stock

On July 30, Apple announced its results for the third fiscal quarter of 2026, the last call with Tim Cook as CEO. Revenue came in at $109.4 billion, up 16 percent year over year, with earnings per share of $2.02. iPhone revenue hit a June-quarter record of $54.25 billion, and both Mac ($10.35 billion) and Services ($30.7 billion) also posted record numbers. Even so, the stock fell around 6.6 percent after the call, as Services revenue came in slightly below expectations and Apple flagged component shortages heading into the fourth quarter.

Cook thanked shareholders for “fifteen remarkable years” at the helm. On September 1, John Ternus, so far head of hardware engineering, officially takes over; Cook becomes executive chairman of the board. Earlier that week, at the premiere of Ted Lasso’s fourth season, the two executives hinted in a joint interview that no major shake-up is coming.

That was the Apple news for July 2026. See you next month for another roundup.