News

Apple’s March 4 Event Rumored To Put New Macs In Play

Lower-cost MacBook and M5 Pro upgrades expected as Apple lines up a multi-city hardware reveal.

Published

3 months ago

February 19, 2026

apple's march 4 event rumored to put new macs in play

Apple will stage its first product event of 2026 on March 4 at 9AM ET, hosting parallel gatherings in New York, London and Shanghai under the “Apple Experience” banner. The focus is hardware, with new Macs expected to lead the announcements.

The headline prospect is a cheaper MacBook, positioned beneath the MacBook Air. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple has been developing a model powered by the A18 Pro chip — an iPhone-class processor — rather than an M-series chip. The trade-off could extend to memory: industry chatter points to 8GB of RAM, even as Apple has shifted most of its Mac line to 16GB as standard.

Pricing is tipped between $699 and $799. If that holds, it would mark Apple’s lowest entry point into modern Mac laptops in years and widen its reach among students and cost-conscious buyers.

At the other end of the range, refreshed MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are widely expected too. Apple has already introduced a base M5 configuration, but the higher-tier variants typically arrive later with more CPU and GPU cores. Reports suggest tweaks to the chip design aimed at better thermals and improved manufacturing yields, potentially allowing the Max version to scale further.

Current M4 Max configurations are facing shipping delays, a pattern that often precedes a refresh cycle.

Tablets are also in line for updates. A 12th-generation base iPad is rumored to move from the A16 to the A18 chip, aligning it more closely with Apple’s on-device AI push. The iPad Air could shift from M3 to M4 — a jump that would narrow the performance gap with the Pro models.

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On the iPhone side, Apple is expected to refresh its entry model with the iPhone 17e, roughly a year after the 16e debuted. Reports point to an A19 chip and possible MagSafe support, while keeping the $599 price.

Other hardware, including a new Studio Display or Mac Studio, remains possible, though less certain. A broader Siri overhaul is unlikely to surface here, with software updates typically reserved for Apple’s developer conference later in the year.

The March 4 event looks set to reset Apple’s core devices in one sweep — from entry laptops to high-end silicon — as competition tightens and AI features edge closer to the center of its pitch.

News

Lebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform

Finance and technology ministers say a comparative study and roadmap will follow before any decision on adopting a model.

Published

3 days ago

May 5, 2026

Joanna Melki

lebanon ministers meet visa over national digital payment platform

Lebanon’s finance and technology ministers met representatives from Visa last week to discuss a proposed unified national digital payment platform for government services, according to a readout from the Ministry of Finance.

The meeting brought together Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence Kamal Shehadeh, a Visa delegation, and experts from both ministries. Discussion focused on whether Lebanon could establish a single platform through which citizens and institutions would pay taxes, fees, fines and other official transactions electronically, using mobile phones and other digital channels.

The Visa delegation presented examples from countries that have adopted unified government payment platforms, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Estonia and Jordan. According to the readout, the examples were presented as having increased collection rates and expanded financial inclusion.

Talks covered settlement mechanisms, direct transfer to the treasury account, financial reconciliation, risk management, cybersecurity, fees, and an operational model that would involve the private sector. The parties agreed to continue technical and institutional consultations, prepare a comparative study, and develop an implementation roadmap before any decision on adopting a model for Lebanon.

Jaber said the Ministry of Finance had already enabled citizens to pay using credit cards and e-wallets through transfer companies, but described the proposed platform as a further step. He framed the development of electronic payment and collection systems as a priority within the ministry’s modernization plan.

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Shehadeh outlined the citizen-facing concept as a single mobile application through which users could settle obligations to ministries, government institutions and other bodies.

“The idea, in short, is that any citizen downloads an application on their mobile phone, through which they can pay all service obligations for all ministries, government institutions, or those owned by the Lebanese state, and others as well, as the platform is not limited only to state institutions,” he said.

Shehadeh added that the platform would not displace banks and money transfer companies that currently provide collection services to the state, calling it complementary to their work.