Ben Lovejoy

Apple was fined a global total of more than $2.1B last year for antitrust violations, but the sum was only the equivalent of just over a week’s worth of free cash flow.

Encrypted email company Proton put together its latest Tech Fines Tracker, in which Google was the most heavily-fined company, with Apple in second place …

The iPhone has lost its crown as the best-selling phone in China, dropping to 3rd place in the latest market intelligence data.

One factor is the company’s struggle to launch Apple Intelligence features in the country after being unable to get permission to use its own generative AI model there …

It seems to be a week for interesting peeks at Apple history, a new piece telling the story of Softbank founder Masayoshi Son making a $17B gamble on the basis of a gentleman’s agreement with Steve Jobs.

Invariably known as Masa, the Japanese entrepreneur – who holds the interesting record of having been the richest man in the world for three days – figured out that Apple had to be working on a phone, two years before it was announced …

The latest Apple store opens on Saturday, and the company has shown off a few photos ahead of time. It has the same curved frontage we’ve seen in a couple of earlier mall stores.

Apple has previously aimed for a relatively seamless transition between the exterior and interior of these stores, and the latest example in Hefei, China, continues this trend …

WhatsApp has announced four improvements to the app, including making it faster and easier for you to react to messages with your most-used emoji.

Parent company Meta says it wanted to start the new year by making the app more fun and easier to use, with a set of four enhancements …

Apple recently made a donation to assist with LA wildfire recovery efforts, and is now inviting customers to do the same.

Those based in the US can make a donation to the American Red Cross’s Southern California Wildfires Relief fund though the App Store or Apple Music apps …

TikTok may shut down totally in the US on Sunday, with the app no longer opening at all, according to a new report. This would go well beyond the legal requirement of the ban, which would only prevent new downloads.

However, Congress may be about to throw the company a lifeline, through a proposed new law granting it another 270 days before the ban comes into effect …

A fun piece of Apple history has been revealed thanks to a look at how Sonos started and where it is headed. It turns out that ‘father of the iPod‘ Tony Fadell wanted Apple to buy the premium audio company.

Fadell tried to persuade Steve Jobs to do so, but Apple’s co-founder refused, saying that he instead wanted to sue the company …

We know from previous Apple patents that the company is hard at work figuring out ways of embedding Face ID in the display of future iPhones.

The biggest barrier here is that the infrared light needed for Face ID doesn’t travel well through a display – but a newly-granted Apple patent suggests that the company may have figured out a solution …

Apple is facing tougher export checks by Chinese authorities as part of a claimed crack-down on technology with potential military applications.

While the increased scrutiny is said to be for security reasons, many believe the real reasons are both economic and political …

The European Union has denied a report that it has paused action against Apple and other US tech giants in the light of anticipated pressure from the incoming US president.

The report claims that the EU is “reassessing” antitrust investigations of Apple, Meta, and Google and that all decisions and fines will be paused until this process is complete …

The first US plant to make A-series chips for Apple devices is expected to begin mass production as early as this quarter, says a new report.

It implies that test production by TSMC has already begun, with Apple said to be in the final stage of verifying the chips produced in Arizona …

It’s always been clear that Vision Pro was simply Apple’s first step into the AR/VR headset world, and that a lower-priced Apple Vision product would follow, but there have so far been mixed reports on when we might expect to see it.

We’ve so far seen reports variously suggesting that the non-Pro Apple Vision headset would launch in 2025, 2026, and 2027 – with the latest of these saying the company is “ramping up” development work …

Apple was already facing a $1B lawsuit on behalf of British developers, but is now up against an even larger one on behalf of app buyers in the UK.

Both antitrust lawsuits have the same basis – that Apple is abusing its monopolistic control over the sale of iPhone apps to charge excessive commissions …

The upcoming change in the presidency has seen a number of companies make changes to long-standing policies, in fields spanning content moderation to DEI policies.

As we reported on Friday, however, Apple is holding firm on its own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, urging shareholders to reject a resolution to abandon them …

Sony has had the exclusive manufacturing contract for iPhone camera sensors for more than a decade, but Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last year suggested this would be changing with the iPhone 18. This has now been backed by two further reports, one of which provides a little more detail.

Samsung is said to be working on a 3-layer stacked camera sensor for Apple, which should improve the performance of future iPhone cameras. Update: Digitimes now backs the report …

If you have an iPhone 14 or later, you can send text messages via satellite where cellular service is unavailable. This can be particularly valuable in emergency situations like the Los Angeles wildfires, where cellphone masts have been damaged or destroyed.

T-Mobile and Starlink have now teamed up to offer the same capability to owners of phones without this feature …

Apple likes to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a specially-commissioned Shot on iPhone video, and an unofficial copy of this year’s short film has been posted ahead of the official reveal expected later today. The lunar new year begins on January 29.

The 12-minute short musical film entitled I Want to Listen to You is directed by Michael Gracey, who previously directed the Hollywood musical film The Greatest Showman …

The greatest attraction for me about Vision Pro is being able to have huge virtual monitors for both work and entertainment, but the downside is the discomfort of wearing one for an extended time. The Brelyon Ultra Reality Extend is a funky new monitor tech that aims to solve this problem.

You don’t have to wear anything – just sit in front of a monitor, which can project a virtual display as wide as 122 inches from a much smaller physical display …

A leaker with a good track record on iPhone camera improvements has lent their support to a report that the 12MP front-facing camera in current iPhones will be upgraded to 24MP in the iPhone 17 line-up. They also endorse the suggestion that all three rear cameras in the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have 48MP sensors.

The latest report goes a little further, however, and suggests that this year’s upgrade to the 5x telephoto camera sensor will apply to the iPhone 17 Pro as well as the Pro Max …