Engadget revealed today that Apple's new MacBook Air doesn't ship with Adobe's Flash plug-in.
Amusingly enough, you know what's missing from the new MacBook Air models? Adobe Flash Player. While preloaded on Apple's past hardware, out of the box here it just says missing plugin, with no click to install option. To be fair, Flash doesn't come standard on a lot of machines, even for Windows, but we wonder if past models will continue to ship out with Adobe's plugin, especially once OS X 10.7 becomes de facto.
It seems Apple is continuing to distance itself from Adobe's Flash plug-in. The omission appears to be no accident with Engadget Editor Joshua Topolsky confirming with Apple that this is how the machine ships. Previous Mac OS X installations have shipped with Adobe's Flash plugin preinstalled.
Apple's dislike of the Adobe Flash plugin has been a very public debate. The controversy began when Apple first shipped the iPhone without support for Adobe's plugin. Over time, Apple has reiterated its stance against Flash in favor of HTML5 standards. Steve Jobs' open letter on Flash outlined his criticisms. While end-users are still free to install Flash on their machines, the removal of Flash as a standard component on the Mac serves to destroy the near ubiquity of Flash for the end user. This may further influence website owner's decisions to support HTML5 in addition to or instead of Flash over time.
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future.
To set up the...
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
