diff --git a/r/NEWS.md b/r/NEWS.md
index 1bda314ee7f..1d1466de377 100644
--- a/r/NEWS.md
+++ b/r/NEWS.md
@@ -23,9 +23,33 @@
 
 - The `.data.frame` argument to `map_batches()`, deprecated since 9.0.0, has
   been removed. Call `collect()` on the result to get a data frame (#51655).
+- `read_feather()` and `write_feather()` now warn that they are deprecated. Use
+  `read_ipc_file()` and `write_ipc_file()` instead. Similarly,
+  `format = "feather"` in `open_dataset()` and `write_dataset()` is deprecated
+  in favour of `format = "ipc"`, and extra arguments passed via `...` to
+  `read_ipc_stream()` and `write_ipc_stream()` are deprecated and ignored
+  (#49237).
+- `register_scalar_function()` now errors if the names in `in_type` do not
+  match the argument names of `fun`, instead of silently ignoring them
+  (#37761).
+
+## New features
+
+- New `AzureFileSystem` class and `az_container()` helper for working with
+  Azure Blob Storage, analogous to `S3FileSystem` and `s3_bucket()`. See
+  `vignette("install", package = "arrow")` for how to enable Azure support
+  when building from source (@marberts, #32123).
 
 ## Minor improvements and fixes
 
+- Variables with the same name as a function, such as `date`, can now be used
+  in dplyr verbs (#39688).
+- Reading Parquet files with `float16` columns now returns the correct values
+  (#50378).
+- `if_else()` now works when one branch is a bare `NA` and the other is a date
+  or timestamp (#38358).
+- `mutate()` with `if_any()` or `if_all()` now gives the new column the correct
+  name (#34860).
 - Factor levels inside list columns are now unified across the whole column
   when converting to R, so data read in multiple batches (e.g. via
   `read_ipc_stream()` or `open_dataset()`) produces valid factors that can be
@@ -36,6 +60,9 @@
   `pull()` will keep returning an R vector by default; use
   `as_vector = FALSE` or `options(arrow.pull_as_vector = FALSE)` to get a
   `ChunkedArray` (#51655).
+- `str_replace()` with an `NA` replacement now returns `NA` for matched
+  elements, matching stringr (@Gosling-dude, #33432).
+- `summarise()` after `arrange()` now works (#45373).
 
 # arrow 25.0.1
 
diff --git a/r/README.md b/r/README.md
index 268ee24bdf0..595a6a798ba 100644
--- a/r/README.md
+++ b/r/README.md
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ tasks.
 It allows users to read and write data in a variety of formats:
 
 - Read and write Parquet files, an efficient and widely used columnar format
-- Read and write Arrow (formerly known as Feather) files, a format optimized for speed and
+- Read and write Arrow IPC (formerly known as Feather) files, a format optimized for speed and
   interoperability
 - Read and write CSV files with excellent speed and efficiency
 - Read and write multi-file and larger-than-memory datasets
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ It allows users to read and write data in a variety of formats:
 
 It provides access to remote filesystems and servers:
 
-- Read and write files in Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage buckets (note: CRAN builds include S3 support but not GCS which require an alternative installation method; see the [cloud storage article](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/articles/fs.html) for details)
+- Read and write files in Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob Storage (note: CRAN builds include S3 support but not GCS, which requires an alternative installation method; Azure is not currently available on Windows. See the [cloud storage article](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/articles/fs.html) for details)
 - Connect to Arrow Flight servers to transport large datasets over networks
 
 Additional features include: