Stargate’s Rocky Path: How OpenAI’s $500 Billion AI Bet Stumbled, Then Surged

President Donald Trump stood at the White House podium on January 21, 2025, flanked by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. He called it the largest AI infrastructure project in history. Stargate LLC would pour $500 billion into U.S. data centers over four years, starting with $100 billion right away. The crowd cheered promises of 100,000 jobs and American AI dominance.

Big talk. Reality hit differently.

Six months later, The Wall Street Journal reported no deals signed. SoftBank and OpenAI aimed small: one modest Ohio data center by year-end. Tariffs loomed. Investors balked. Masayoshi Son, Stargate’s chairman, faced questions on SoftBank earnings calls. CFO Yoshimitsu Goto admitted delays—no shovels in the ground despite the $100 billion pledge.

And then. Partners clashed.

By summer 2025, The Information detailed a three-way fight. OpenAI wanted control. Oracle pushed cloud dominance. SoftBank demanded financial say. The joint venture hired no one. Built nothing. OpenAI scrambled elsewhere—CoreWeave deals, Microsoft expansions. Stargate shelved.

But OpenAI didn’t quit. Altman pivoted.

From Standoff to Sprawl: Data Centers Rise

July 2025. OpenAI and Oracle announced 4.5 gigawatts more capacity. Abilene, Texas—Stargate’s flagship—saw parts operational. Construction hummed on a 1-gigawatt campus, set for 450,000 NVIDIA GB200 GPUs by mid-2026, per Data Center Dynamics.

September 23, 2025. Game on. OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank unveiled five new sites: Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; Lordstown, Ohio; Milam County, Texas; undisclosed Midwest spot. Total: nearly 7 gigawatts. Over $400 billion committed. Ahead of the full $500 billion, 10-gigawatt target by end-2025, OpenAI said. Reuters confirmed the push, noting SoftBank’s role in Ohio and Texas builds.

WIRED called it a boost equivalent to seven nuclear reactors’ power. Bloomberg pegged investments at $400 billion. Ground broke in Milam County by October.

Compromises fueled progress. OpenAI leased and designed facilities. SoftBank’s SB Energy owned and powered them. Oracle handled three sites. Tensions eased into bilateral deals.

January 2026. OpenAI and SoftBank dropped $1 billion into SB Energy. For what? A 1.2-gigawatt Milam County center. SB Energy co-CEO Rich Hossfeld said it accelerates “advanced AI data center campuses and associated energy infrastructure at the scale required to advance Stargate.” OpenAI’s announcement tied it to the White House pledge. CNBC noted SoftBank’s growing OpenAI stake—$41 billion by December 2025.

February 2026 hiccup. The Information resurfaced: Stargate stalled again over control. But reports clarified progress. Ground broken. Compromises struck. OpenAI’s compute chief Sachin Katti tweeted Stargate as an “umbrella brand”—diversified across NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, clouds like AWS. Exited 2025 with 2 gigawatts available.

Power. The real choke point.

Stargate sites demand gigawatts—like powering millions of homes. Texas leads: Abilene, Shackelford, Milam. Ohio’s Lordstown eyes 1.5 gigawatts in 18 months. New Mexico and Midwest follow. SB Energy’s solar, batteries integrate. Wikipedia logs Stargate Argentina too—500 megawatts, $25 billion.

Oracle finances aggressively. $16.3 billion debt for one Michigan building—a record. Banks wary; yields rose on construction risks, per recent X buzz. Oracle backstops via SPVs, spending $48 million per megawatt for OpenAI.

Stargate reshapes AI. OpenAI diversifies from Microsoft Azure. Partners like Cerebras join. But risks linger. Delays. Debt loads. Power grids strained. Partner squabbles.

Yahoo Finance noted February 2026 reports of renewed stalls. Yet sites advance. Abilene runs partial ops. Milam builds. OpenAI claims $400 billion locked, 7 gigawatts planned.

Jobs flow. Texas, Ohio, New Mexico boom. Trump touted 100,000. Reality: thousands now, scaling.

Geopolitics weaves in. UAE’s G42 eyes Stargate-like 5-gigawatt Abu Dhabi campus with OpenAI, NVIDIA. Saudi’s Humain courts xAI. Middle East races for AI sovereignty.

Stargate endures. Not flawless. Not fast. But real. From White House hype to dirt-turning deals, it powers OpenAI’s frontier models. Compute scarcity ends here—or so they bet. Watch Texas. Watch the watts rack up.

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YouTube’s Watch History Ultimatum: No Tracking, No Recommendations

YouTube users open the app. Blank homepage stares back. No videos. Just a nagging prompt: Turn on watch history to populate your feed.

This isn’t a glitch. It’s policy. Longtime users who’ve paused tracking for years—some since 2013—now face empty screens. Recommendations vanished. YouTube demands data to deliver content.

The shift hit hard last week. Users reported it across platforms. iOS apps first, then web and Android. Previously, paused history meant recommendations drew from likes, subscriptions, saved videos. No longer. YouTube blanks the feed entirely for those without ‘significant prior watch history,’ as the company puts it.

Mashable broke the story on April 26, detailing the frustration (Mashable). ‘I’ve had my watch history off since 2013. Why is this suddenly a requirement? Maliciously incompetent company,’ one Reddit user fumed in a thread that drew hundreds of replies (Reddit r/youtube). Another vented: ‘Haven’t had watch history on for 9 years. Now they’re forcing me to turn it on… Makes no sense and its almost blatant.’

Privacy advocates see coercion. Users kept history off to avoid profiling—for kids’ accounts, shared TVs, personal reasons. Now, YouTube withholds core functionality. Ad dollars at stake. Tracking fuels precise targeting, boosting revenue. Alphabet’s Q1 2026 filings show ad growth tied to personalization; watch data is gold.

YouTube’s Official Line—and Silence

TeamYouTube addressed it on X. ‘If you have watch history off & no significant prior watch history, your home feed will now show the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of rec videos (since home relies on your history to provide video recs!)’ (YouTube Support). They linked a forum post echoing the same. No apology. No timeline. Mashable sought comment; none came.

On X, outrage spread. PrincePacman called it ‘completely barbaric’ on April 21, screenshot in hand. Kalub! griped about a decade of paused history killing the home page. Honoria Lucasta sighed relief at the minimalism—but most fumed. Turmeric demanded: ‘Why bully me into turning my watch history on?’ TeamYouTube repeated the script twice more, replies piling up unsatisfied.

Workarounds emerged fast. Re-enable history. Refresh. Pause again. Feed repopulates, at least temporarily. Path: Settings > ‘View or change your Google Account settings’ > Data & Privacy > YouTube history toggle. Users watch a video briefly first for good measure. But patches fail over time. YouTube tightens the screws.

This echoes 2023. TechCrunch reported then that paused history already limited recs (TechCrunch). Users got a stripped feed. Now, escalation. No ‘prior history’? Total blackout. Recent algorithm tweaks cluster watch patterns into micro-niches, per OutlierKit’s 2026 update roundup. Paused users starve the system.

Business angle sharpens. YouTube’s 2.5 billion users generate trillions of views yearly. Recommendations drive 70% of them, per internal stats. Without watch data, feeds falter. Subscriptions and likes fill gaps short-term. Long-term? Users cave or flee to TikTok, Invidious, NewPipe.

But flight costs time. Switching means rebuilding habits. YouTube bets inertia wins. Privacy regulators watch. EU’s GDPR demands consent; this feels opt-out reversed. California’s CCPA eyes data sales. No lawsuits yet. Change too fresh.

Users adapt. Some delete history outright via myactivity.google.com. Select ranges: today, all time. Clears slate, resets recs. Others subscribe more, curate playlists. Feed improves sans tracking. Irony: YouTube forces manual effort it promised to automate.

Complaints mount. Reddit threads swell. X buzz peaks. YouTube stays mum beyond boilerplate. Rollout continues. Affects long-pausers worst; fresh data lingers for recent ones. Vasa noted on X: Kid shares TV; now recommendations poisoned.

Fragment. Data grab. Clear as day.

Advertisers cheer quietly. Better signals mean higher bids. Creators? Mixed. Top ones thrive on viral recs; small channels suffer if users hide. Platform power consolidates.

YouTube won’t budge. History on, or home blank. Choose.

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X Axes Communities: Spam Surge and Sparse Usage Force Pivot to Chats as Feature Era Ends

X’s Communities feature, once pitched as a haven for niche discussions amid the platform’s chaotic timelines, faces extinction by May 30. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, dropped the news on April 22. Low engagement. Rampant abuse. Half the product team’s time wasted on cleanup.

Communities launched in 2021 under Twitter’s banner, before Elon Musk’s takeover and rebrand. Users could build public groups around shared interests—think fandoms, hobbies, finance tips. Posts stayed contained. Feeds filtered to members only. A stab at Reddit-style forums on a real-time feed app. But adoption stalled below 0.4% of users, per Bier’s post. Worse: those groups triggered 80% of spam reports, financial scams, malware alerts.

Bier didn’t mince words. “Communities had a great vision, but they were used by less than 0.4% of users—yet contributed to 80% of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on X,” he wrote. The drain? It ate half the team’s weeks, sidelining core app fixes. Most vibrant spaces? Not organic fan clubs. Funnels for Kick streamers. Paid clip farms harvesting highlights for pay. X’s fast, chaotic vibe clashed with slow-browse group dynamics that suit Reddit or Facebook.

Creators pushed back hard. IShowSpeed’s “Speed Gang” boasted 155,000 members. His take: prime spot for fan chats at scale. A finance group mod with 3,500 followers lamented group chat caps at 500-1,000. Bier fired back—only four posts all April. Group chats suffice. He even DM’d big names like Speed, floating exceptions for mega-communities. Original shutdown eyed May 6. Backlash bought time to May 30 for migrations.

Replacement? XChat group chats. Now with public join links, pinnable to profiles. Starts at 350 members. Scales to 500, then 1,000. Moderators can post invites now. But scale issues loom for giants. No dedicated feeds. No massive rosters. X bets on real-time chats fitting its pulse better than walled gardens.

Talk Android flagged creator discontent early. Speed’s plea highlighted loyalty gaps. Finance mods eyed fractures in specialized networks. Engadget noted the pivot in its April 23 coverage: “X is directing Communities users to move to group chats in its XChat app before the feature is retired at the end of May.” TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez zeroed in on origins, detailing the 2021 debut and spam overload. “Hardly anyone was using them,” she quoted Bier.

Digital Trends framed the shift broader: forums yield to AI-curated timelines for Premium users. Their report called it X’s boldest structural tweak in years. Spam not just annoyance—security risk. Malware hid in group posts. Scams lured via fake finance tips. X’s moderation strained under volume from a feature few loved.

History repeats. Circles, another Musk-era experiment for selective sharing, met a similar quiet end. No new posts after November. Communities join the scrap heap. X prioritizes Grok-powered feeds, video tabs, payments. Group chats align: ephemeral, invite-driven, less spam-prone with tighter controls.

Users scramble. Mods pin XChat links. Members migrate or scatter. One X poster griped: X ditched loyal bases. Another cheered—no more scammer dens. Crypto types recalled deleted “create community” buttons curbing raids. Baller Alert quipped: “X said ‘bye Felicia’ to Communities.” Brutal. Accurate?

Platform wars rage on. Bluesky gains defectors seeking stability. Threads tests group chats. Reddit thrives on subs. X doubles down on chaos—its edge, detractors say. Bier’s logic holds if spam drops, engagement rises elsewhere. But creators mourn scale. Speed’s 155k? Unmatched in chats soon. Exceptions tease favoritism for stars.

Shutdown mechanics simple. No new communities since announcement. Existing ones read-only post-May 30? Data unclear—X urges exports via chats. Premium perks like custom timelines fill voids, curating interests algorithmically. No human mods needed. Grok assists.

Big picture. X sheds pre-Musk weight. Twitter’s forum dreams don’t fit Musk’s everything-app vision. Chats foster direct ties. Timelines amplify virality. Spam purge frees resources. Critics see feature whack-a-mole: Circles gone. Fleets flopped. Now this. Loyalists stick. Growth hinges on retention.

May 30 looms. One more relic fades. X evolves—or contracts.

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Apple’s iPhone Fold Leak Exposes Thick Reality: 9.23mm Profile Challenges Foldable Norms

Apple’s long-awaited foldable iPhone just got real dimensions. Renders from a South Korean tipster show it folded at 9.23mm thick. Unfolded, it hits about 13mm max, thanks to a protruding camera module. No ultra-slim dream here. The device, codenamed iPhone Fold, sports a 5.5-inch outer display and a 7.8-inch inner one. Book-style. Two colors: silver, black. And a Camera Control button, just like recent iPhones.

These details come from Digital Trends, citing Naver user yeux1122 and Weibo’s Instant Digital. The leak surfaced April 26, 2026. Suppliers provided the molds. Early buzz.

Expectations ran high for thinness. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo pegged it at 9-9.5mm folded, 4.5mm unfolded back in March (MacRumors). Others whispered 4.5mm open. Reality bites. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 clocks 8.9mm folded, 4.2mm unfolded. Honor Magic V6 and Oppo Find N6 match that slimness. Apple’s entry? Thicker when shut. But the camera bump skews unfolded measures—13mm peaks there.

Leak Origins and Evolving Specs

Rumors swirled for years. Now, dummy units and supplier whispers paint a picture. South Korean leaker yeux1122 posted renders from an Apple casing maker. Instant Digital on Weibo backed the thickness. Recent X posts echo 9.2mm folded, slimmer than prior 11mm talk. Saurav (@Saurav_DJ47) shared a confidential doc: ~9.2mm folded, ~4.7mm unfolded. Dual 48MP sensors. Punch-hole selfie. Side Touch ID, ditching inner Face ID.

MacRumors reports a nearly crease-free screen—under 0.15mm depth, 2.5-degree angle. Titanium chassis for strength. Hinge durability key. Dummy models from early April match: 5.5-inch closed, 7.8-inch open. Shorter, wider than tall Samsung folds. Passport-like. Leaker Sonny Dickson showed CADs; Majin Bu called them final design (Tom’s Guide).

Discrepancies abound. Mashable notes 9.5mm unfolded, 4.5mm folded—likely swapped states. PhoneArena tables it: 9.5mm folded vs. Oppo’s 8.9mm, Pixel’s 10.8mm. Apple aims elegant, not thinnest. September 2026 launch, post-iPhone 18 Pro. Limited stock first.

Battery rumors hit 5,088mAh minimum (Mashable). A20 chip. Touch ID return. Four cameras per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Software pulls iPadOS multitasking, sans Stage Manager. Price? Over $2,000. UBS eyes $1,800-$2,000 start (MacRumors forums).

Production cautious. Forbes reports 3 million units initial, down from 20 million display hopes. Gauges demand. Samsung Display ramps May. No SIM slot—eSIM only.

Foldable Market Pressures Mount

Apple enters late. Samsung dominates since 2019. Z Fold 7 sets thin bar. But creases plague all—Apple’s fix could differentiate. Wide design fits tablet tasks better. Shishir (@ShishirShelke1) lists: C2 modem, 12GB RAM, 5,400-5,800mAh, iOS 27 Split View. $2,000-$2,400 tag.

Challenges clear. Thickness trade-offs for batteries, hinges, cameras. 255g weight leaked earlier (PhoneArena). MagSafe? Cases suggest yes (Tom’s Guide). But ultra-thin rumors questioned it.

Suppliers test prototypes. Mass production nears. Fall debut on track, per Bloomberg. Apple bets on polish over specs. Crease minimal. Durability titanium-backed. Wide form practical.

Insiders watch yields. Foldables hit 15-20% failure rates elsewhere. Apple demands better. If executed, this 9.23mm beast could redefine premium folds. Or expose limits. Launch will tell.

Vadim Yuryev’s Max Tech dummy compares to iPad mini. Pocketable wide. Camera plateau thickens rear. iPhone 18 Pro Max hits 13.77mm with lenses—Fold similar unfolded.

Competition heats. Samsung Z Fold 8 Wide leaks camera tech edge (X post). Huawei Pura X Max sizes up. Apple plays catch-up. But ecosystem lock-in strong. iPhone users loyal.

Foldable sales grow—yet niche. Apple eyes volume. 3 million start conservative. Success hinges on price, crease, software. Thickness? Acceptable compromise. Real use matters more.

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Apple’s Precision CEO Handover: Why September 1 Sets John Ternus Up for a Blockbuster Start

Tim Cook’s departure from Apple’s CEO role won’t disrupt the company’s rhythm. On September 1, 2026, John Ternus steps in as chief executive, with Cook shifting to executive chairman. The date lands just weeks before Apple’s marquee September product event. Expect a foldable iPhone reveal there—one Ternus engineered from the ground up.

This timing. Deliberate. It echoes Cook’s own 2011 ascent, when he inherited a pipeline brimming with hits like the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Now, Ternus gets the holiday quarter kickoff, projected to rake in nearly $150 billion, Apple’s fattest yet. iPhone sales. Refreshed MacBooks with fresh chips. A MacBook Neo pushing records. New categories on deck.

Ternus, 50, joined Apple in 2001. He’s run hardware engineering since 2021, sharpening iPads on performance, battery life, reliability—think the latest Pro models. He unveiled the iPhone Air. Lately, more interviews. iPhone 17 details. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes Ternus “oversaw the engineering and product development” of the foldable iPhone, adding, “the idea that Ternus drove this whole process will be put front and center during the launch period.” 9to5Mac

Handover Precision in a High-Stakes Moment

Apple’s board approved the switch unanimously on April 17, 2026, but held the April 20 announcement. A filing detail slipped the secret-keeping prowess: the decision predated leaks. Cook, 65, penned a shareholder letter: “Over the coming months I will be transitioning into a new role, leaving the CEO job behind in September, and becoming Apple’s executive chairman.” Apple Newsroom

Wall Street shrugged. Shares dipped less than 1%. Analysts praised the plan. eMarketer’s Jacob Bourne called it no shock: “Cook is at retirement age and Ternus has long been rumored as the successor.” Cook stays through summer, easing the pass. He’ll serve long as chairman, he assured staff: “healthy” and committed. Bloomberg

But challenges loom. AI integration. Apple lags rivals. Ternus must weave it into hardware prowess. Regulatory heat—from U.S. antitrust to EU rules, China tensions. Services growth. China sales slump. Tariffs bite. The New York Times outlines five tall tasks: accelerate AI, spark innovation beyond iPhone, navigate politics—like Cook’s diplomacy with leaders worldwide. The New York Times

Cook quadrupled revenue to over $400 billion yearly. Market cap soared $3.6 trillion under him. From supply-chain master—pre-CEO ops chief—he built services into a $100 billion machine. Apple Watch. AirPods. Silicon switch. Vision Pro. No small feat after Steve Jobs.

Ternus inherits stability. No drama. Yet he must find his voice. Cook lingers as chair. The Wall Street Journal captures Cook’s advice to successors, echoing Jobs: stay true amid transition. Apple hunts its next big product—a decade since AirPods. The Wall Street Journal

Ternus’s Path: Hardware Ace to Global Steward

Less spotlight than Cook. Ternus shines internally. Precision engineer. Oversaw iPhone, Mac, Watch, iPad lines. Reuters dubs him the pick for AI era: hardware roots suit on-device smarts. But can he rally visionaries? Court regulators? Boost China?

Forbes flags September 1 as pivotal: post-event, Ternus owns the foldable push. Holiday momentum. Fortune ties it to iPhone refresh. DealBook questions his diplomat chops versus Cook’s. Forbes Fortune The New York Times

Reactions pour in. X buzzes with the 9to5Mac piece on timing—retweets from @9to5mac. Fast Company calls it corporate history’s most choreographed handover. Investors eye April 30 earnings: $109.3 billion revenue forecast, Apple Intelligence test.

September 1. Ternus on stage? Likely. Foldable iPhone spotlit. His project. Perfect debut. Cook watches from chairman’s perch. Apple rolls on—bigger, if Ternus nails the pivot.

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PhoneSoap’s UV Glow: Does the Sanitizer Slayer Actually Wipe Out Phone Germs?

Your smartphone. A pocket-sized petri dish. Studies show it harbors up to 18 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, teeming with E. coli traces, Staphylococcus aureus, and worse. Health workers’ phones? Loaded with pathogens like Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas, ready to hitch a ride from hospital to home. Enter PhoneSoap, the UV-C box that promises to nuke those microbes while charging your device. But does it deliver, or is it just pricey peace of mind?

PhoneSoap launched in 2014 on Shark Tank, snagging a deal from Lori Greiner for $300,000 at 10% equity. Sales exploded to $187 million lifetime by 2023, fueled by pandemic fears. Founders Dan Barnes and Wesley LaPorte expanded from the original PhoneSoap to models like the PhoneSoap 3 ($89.95), Pro ($129.95, 5-minute cycle), and Go (battery-powered for travel). The core tech: UV-C bulbs at 254nm wavelength, firing from multiple angles for 360-degree coverage. Place your phone inside, close the lid, and it auto-starts a 10-minute zap—killing germs without heat or chemicals. USB ports keep it juiced during the process.

Independent labs back the claims. A 2020 study at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles tested the PhoneSoap Med+ on 30 health workers’ phones. One 30-second cycle slashed total bacteria by 90.5% (P=.006), pathogens by 98.2% (P=.038). Two cycles over 24 hours? 99.9% total, over 99.99% pathogens (P=.004 and .037). ‘This novel UV-C device significantly decreases both total and pathogenic bacteria,’ wrote authors Sanchi Malhotra and team in the American Journal of Infection Control. Common bugs like coagulase-negative Staph vanished from most surfaces. Nurses and residents, 96% worried about phone germs, called it easy and wanted it hospital-wide.

Another trial pitted PhoneSoap’s PS300 against wipes and rivals. It cut aerobic colonies effectively on phone faces and case junctions, though a competitor edged it on backsides after 5 minutes. PhoneSoap’s site cites third-party tests: 99.99% kill on H1N1 influenza, MRSA, E. coli—even SARS-CoV-2 surrogates in pro models. A 2021 study confirmed their ExpressPro zaps 99.99% of the actual COVID virus. Bacteria die fast under UV-C; viruses like enveloped coronaviruses follow suit, per physics.

Consumer tests echo the science. Amazon shoppers give PhoneSoap 3 4.6 stars from 4,757 reviews: ‘Kills 99.9% germs… sleek white color.’ Best Buy users praise its ease for phones and remotes, 94% recommending despite size limits. Thingtesting.com rates it 4.3: ‘Built-in dryer fan… cordless via USB-C.’ YouTube breakdowns compare PhoneSoap 3 (10 minutes) to Pro (faster, bigger). One reviewer: ‘Do I know if it works? Not really. But we like it.’ Recent X chatter debunks myths—no data theft; it’s just light, no USB data link unless you plug in.

But wipe fans push back. The CDC favors 70% isopropyl alcohol on microfiber for phones—cheap, quick, EPA-approved. UV boxes can’t reach crevices if cases stay on, and bulbs degrade over time (non-replaceable in some). Apple’s forums note: ‘PhoneSoap untested on COVID; too much UV might harm screens.’ A 2018 study found UV devices inconsistent on phone cases. Price stings too—$90 versus free wipes. And that faint ozone whiff post-cycle? Normal from UV air interaction.

PhoneSoap fights back. Their Pro’s aluminum interior reflects light for better coverage; it fits AirPods, cards, keys. Hospitals swap wipes for UV to cut chemical waste and standardize cleaning. Sales hold strong in 2026—no recalls, steady Amazon buys. Shark Tank recaps peg annual revenue at $13.5 million lately. Lori Greiner touts it: ‘UV light really works from all the studies.’

So, worth it? For germaphobes or pros handling sick patients, yes—lab-proven reductions beat haphazard wiping. Casual users? Alcohol does 99% as well, cheaper. Phones stay dirtier than ever; pick your poison. UV-C works. Question is, do you need the box.

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Five Years On: Why Apple’s M1 iPad Pro Still Powers Pro Workflows in 2026

Apple’s 2021 iPad Pro arrived with the M1 chip, promising Mac-level power in a tablet. Five years later, it holds its own. Benchmarks from that era showed Geekbench 5 multicore scores around 7,318 on high-end configs, outpacing the prior A12Z by double digits. Scott Stein at CNET called the hardware “just about perfect,” though iPadOS couldn’t fully tap it.

The 12.9-inch model dazzled with Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED, delivering OLED-like blacks and HDR punch. The 11-inch stuck to standard Liquid Retina. Both ran ProMotion at 120Hz. Battery lasted a full day, even under AR loads that drained rivals. Pricing started at $799 for 11-inch Wi-Fi/128GB, $1,099 for 12.9-inch. Add 5G for $200 more. Accessories? Magic Keyboard pushed totals past $1,500.

Fast-forward to April 2026. iPadOS 26 runs on M1 Pros, per Apple’s site. New windowing and multitasking mimic macOS—swipe for traffic-light controls, resize apps freely. Users on X report smooth sails. Aki Joensuu posted, “the M1 iPad Pro still rocks very well for everything you need.” Battery concerns crop up after years, but replacements fix that.

Performance That Endures Against M5 Newcomers

M5 iPad Pros claim 2x CPU, 2.5x GPU over M1 in real tests, per MacRumors forums and YouTube benches. AI tasks? Up to 3.5x faster. Yet M1 handles 2026 workflows—video edits, 3D renders, Apple Intelligence—without stutter. Reddit threads affirm: M1 outpowers iPadOS limits. No thermal woes in fanless design.

Refurb deals abound. Apple’s store lists M4 Pros at $759, but third-parties offer M1 models under $500. Back Market has 11-inch M1 128GB for $402. Amazon renewed units hover $400-700. Compare to M5’s $999 start (now $899 on sale at The Verge deals).

Stein noted iPadOS gaps: “still isn’t flexible enough.” iPadOS 26 bridges that. Multitask three apps. External displays via USB-C. Pencil Pro hovers. Cameras? Ultra-wide front auto-zooms for calls; LiDAR boosts AR.

But compromises linger. No full macOS apps. File management clunky. Pros who code or run VMs stick to laptops. For creatives—Procreate, LumaFusion, Final Cut—it’s gold.

X chatter echoes value. Chizi shared, “My m1 finally gave me a reason to replace it, swerved me 5 years.” Fernando Silva raved on M5 but implied M1’s baseline holds.

Buy, Hold, or Upgrade? The 2026 Math

New M5 brings tandem OLED, slimmer chassis, Wi-Fi 7. Battery matches M1 ratings. Worth double the refurbished M1 price? Only for OLED obsessives or AI pros.

Industry insiders snag M1s cheap. Pair with Magic Keyboard ($300). Total under $800. Runs iPadOS 26 features like Liquid Glass effects. Support likely through 2028-29, based on patterns.

Apple shifted tablets skyward. M1 started it. In 2026, it delivers pro punch without M5 premium. Smart buy for budgets. Proven staying power.

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