Follow Benjamin on Threads to keep up with his latest projects. Benjamin blogs about Apple news and rumors and posts insightful product and app reviews. Read his work on 9to5Mac and his personal blog.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
Follow @bzamayo on Twitter and follow @bzamayo on Threads.
Apple has just been handed perhaps the most bullet-proof injunction ever, affecting the App Store in the United States, as a result of the ongoing dispute between Apple and Epic Games.
Apple has said it will appeal, but comply in the meantime — and the judgement explicitly spells out how to do so, with seemingly little wiggle room. There’s one small concession that app developers must conform to, but otherwise they get free reign …
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Apple has dropped the price of MLS Season Pass by 30% for the remainder of the 2025 season, reflecting that about a third of the season is now over.
The new pricing means you can now subscribe for just $69 for the 2025 season, further discounted to $59 for Apple TV+ subscribers.
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In the wake of the recent tariffs debacle, both Bloomberg and The Financial Times are reporting that Apple aims to manufacture import almost all of its iPhones sold in the United States from India, rather than China, by the end of next year.
This means Apple would need India to make more than 60 million phones a year, in order to satisfy its domestic sales. Overall India iPhone assembly would have to approximately double to meet this target, to about 80 million per year.
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This is your last chance to take advantage of the Apple TV+ offer, where new and eligible returning subscribers can get Apple TV+ for $2.99/mo for 3 months, a 70% discount compared to the regular $9.99 per month price.
The deal, which was launched earlier this month, ends today on April 24. If you haven’t already, here’s some exclusive TV show suggestions to catch up on that you might have missed if you’ve churned out of Apple TV+ for a while …
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Apple has today received a 500 million euro fine (about $570 million) from the EU commission under the Digital Markets Act. The commission said the fine relates to Apple’s App Store anti-steering policies. It is being forced to make changes, or else face further fines.
The DMA requires that app developers should be able to inform customers of alternative purchasing options outside of the App Store, and direct customers to those alternative payment options, free of charge. Apple’s rules currently do not allow for this …
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is set to launch a new trade-in promotion at its stores this week. Gurman says Apple will offer a 10% discount (up to $20 off) on the purchase of new Apple accessories, including AirPods, AirTag, Apple Pencil and more, when the buyer recycles an item that otherwise would not be eligible for trade-in credit.
He says the scheme will be officially announced tomorrow, and run for a month. It sounds like this promotion is timed to commemorate Earth Day, which is officially held on 22 April this year.
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Apple today announced that it has officially rebranded Search Ads as ‘Apple Ads’, reflecting the expanding scope of Apple’s advertising business.
When Apple first launched ads in the App Store, they were only shown as promoted search results, hence the name ‘Search Ads’. But the company now offers advertising placements in many more places beyond just the Search tab, so the old name had become a bit anachronistic.
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Apple launches its latest prestige series today, Your Friends & Neighbors starring Jon Hamm in the lead role. The mix of drama and comedy sees Hamm playing a disgraced former hedge fund manager called Andrew Cooper, who turns to a life of crime to preserve his lavish lifestyle.
The first two episodes are available to stream right now on Apple TV+, with the remainder of the season airing weekly. Apple is running a special promo where new subscribers can get Apple TV+ for $2.99 per month for 3 months, enough to cover the full run of Your Friends & Neighbors.
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If you go to Settings -> Battery on your iPhone, you can see a lot of stats about the performance and health of your battery. This includes a charge graph that plots the battery percentage of the iPhone over the last twenty four hours, so you can track how it charges and how quickly it depletes. The chart is colored differently based on several factors, but what does ‘Slow Charger’ mean?
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Apple TV+ is available here at 70% off for a limited time, as part of a new promotion the company is running.
From now until April 24, new and returning subscribers can get Apple TV+ for just $2.99 per month for three months. The special offer is timed to the launch of new Jon Hamm series Your Friends & Neighbors, premiering this Friday.
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The full extent of the U.S. government’s impeding tariffs were revealed by the Trump administration today in a press conference. The hefty tariffs threaten economic trade on a massive scale with implications on almost all big US companies, including Apple.
The Apple supply chain relies on manufacturing and assembly of its devices in countries like China, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. All of these regions are now facing huge tariffs, which ultimately increases the cost of production and undermines Apple’s margins and potential profitability.
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The just-released iPhone software update has a bunch of headline features including Priority Notifications, new emoji, Sketch in Image Playgrounds and more, but iOS 18.4 also has some more under-the-radar changes.
As spotted by Mysk, iOS 18.4 adds a new setting buried in Location Services called ‘Improve Location Accuracy’. For some users, including myself, it was on by default. Here’s what Apple says this toggle does …
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Apple is celebrating the return of baseball with a new documentary, Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series, streaming today on Apple TV+. The service’s Friday Night Baseball double-header games also start again this evening.
Fight for Glory goes behind the scenes of the 2024 World Series, with exclusive access to the Yankees and Dodgers as they revive Major League Baseball’s most iconic playoff rivalry.
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Today, Apple debuts its highly-anticipated hot new comedy series The Studio, streaming now on Apple TV+. The show stars Seth Rogen as a Hollywood exec in control of a studio that is struggling to stay relevant.
The show is a comedic satire of the quirks of the industry, from the relentless pursuit of IP to the ongoing clash of artistry and business incentives. The show also features a laundry list of cameo appearances throughout.
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You may have seen Apple Maps survey cars in your area before. As they drive around, the cars take photos and 3D scans to generate ground truth data that can be used to improve map accuracy and offer features like Look Around, Apple’s equivalent of Google Street View.
But now the data collected from these cars will also have another purpose. In an updated disclosure on the Apple Maps Image Collection website, Apple says that starting this month, imagery from its vehicle surveys will also be used to train generative AI models, like those used for Apple Intelligence features such as Image Playground and Clean Up.
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A strange Apple Maps bug is showing point-of-interest pins for a smattering of airport baggage claim stations across the United States, while the map is zoomed far way enough that otherwise almost no landmarks, let alone airports, are marked.
The random baggage claim pins appear across Apple Maps on iPhone, iPad and Mac. This is obviously a glitch with the data being served by the Apple Maps backend, and should be fixable by Apple with a server update.
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Apple TV+ has officially renewed its hit sci-fi drama series Severance for a third season, on the heels of the second season finale dropping today.
Writing on scripts for season three has already been underway for some time. Executive producer and director Ben Stiller has promised fans that there won’t be a three year wait this time between seasons, although filming on season three has not yet commenced.
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In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple firmly rebuked the EU decision announced today about specific interoperability requirements the company must implement over the coming months.
Apple said “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules. It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users”.
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Update: Apple has responded to the EU’s announcement with a statement provided to 9to5Mac, that strongly opposes the decision.
The EU has followed up on its Digital Markets Act specification procedures for Apple regarding the iPhone’s interoperability with third-party connected devices like smartwatches and headphones, as announced last fall.
Today’s announcement details exactly what third-party integrations the EU commission expects Apple to implement. This includes giving third-party devices access to iOS notifications, as well as way for companies to make like-for-like competitors to AirDrop file sharing, AirPlay streaming, and much more.
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In collaboration with the GSM Association, Apple today announced it will add support for end-to-end encryption for RCS messages. This brings RCS much closer to iMessage in terms of security standards.
The new RCS Universal Profile 3.0 including end-to-encryption was only just released today, so it’s not clear exactly when this support will ship to customers. Apple said it helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-encryption to the RCS Universal Profile …
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Apple TV+ today released the trailer for its buzzy new drama series, called Your Friends & Neighbors. The show stars Jon Hamm in the lead role as a man named Coop, a hedge fund manager who is down on his luck. In an effort to maintain his luxurious lifestyle, he turns to the world of crime, secretly stealing possessions from his affluent neighbors to sell them on.
The show has received early praise and — months ahead of its premiere — Apple renewed the show for a second season as another sign of confidence in the project. Watch the trailer after the break …
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Apple is still reeling from the last-week’s news that the most compelling new Apple Intelligence features for Siri have been indefinitely delayed. Over the weekend, it pulled a YouTube ad showcasing personal context running on the iPhone 16.
Now, it has updated the Apple website with a new disclaimer wherever the unreleased Siri features are mentioned on the iPhone marketing pages.
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Apple SVP Eddy Cue and director Ben Stiller took to the SXSW stage to discuss Severance, Apple’s hit sci-fi thriller. Cue talks about how Severance has become a core of Apple TV+ and an example of how focusing on just a few shows promotes quality.
The in-person stage experience included two clips from the upcoming S2E9, but these are cut out of the recorded version. Otherwise, you can watch the full interview after the break …
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Apple Music has partnered with His Majesty for The King’s Music Room, a special radio playlist set to celebrate this year’s Commonwealth’s Day.
During the show, King Charles will share personal anecdotes amidst his curated playlist of songs ranging from “1930s crooners to Afrobeats stars, as well as disco divas and reggae icons” …
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