Samsung has been working on a smartphone with not just one fold, but two, and the first photos of the upcoming device surfaced today (via The Chosun Daily).
Image via The Chosun Daily
Samsung displayed the tri-fold smartphone at APEC 2025 Korea. The device is designed to transform from a ~6.5-inch smartphone into a ~10-inch tablet-style display. It will fold twice, rather than just once like the standard Galaxy Fold smartphones.
There was no opportunity for APEC attendees to try the smartphone because it was displayed in a transparent case, but The Korea Economic Daily was still able to share some details. The smartphone appears to be about 4.2mm thick when it's unfolded, and 1.2 to 1.5cm thick when folded up. Crease lines are said to be "barely noticeable."
Here's your first look at the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold.
Screen when folded: 6.5-inch Screen when unfolded: 10-inch
It might be announced later this week.
Source: Chosun Media pic.twitter.com/EhT4i1hW2k
— Trakin Tech English (@trakinenglish) October 28, 2025
Samsung could begin production on its tri-fold smartphone as soon as next month, and it is apparently going to be launching before the end of 2026. Samsung has yet to announce pricing, but analysts estimate that it could sell for around $2,800.
Apple is working on a version of the iPad mini that has a more water resistant design, reports Bloomberg. The iPad mini's updated casing would offer water resistance similar to the iPhone, making it safe for casual use in wet environments like a bath or a pool area.
Apple created a new speaker system for the iPad mini that uses vibration-based technology, allowing for the speaker holes in the device to be removed. Removing the speaker holes would cut down on areas where water could get into the crevices of the iPad mini.
For the iPhone, Apple uses adhesive and gaskets to protect the speaker holes and other ingress points from water intrusion, so the iPad mini's design would be different. The current iPad mini does not have an official water resistance rating and it is not safe to get it wet.
While the iPhone has IP68 water resistance that allows it to withstand submersion in water up to six meters deep for 30 minutes, it is not yet known what IP rating the iPad mini might feature.
The next-generation version of the iPad mini could also feature an OLED display, with the update coming as soon as 2026. Apple last refreshed the iPad mini in 2024 with the 7th-generation model.
Apple's iPad mini with OLED display technology and improved water resistance is expected to be more expensive, and Apple could charge up to $100 more for the device. The iPad mini is currently priced starting at $499.
Apple is developing versions of the iPad mini, iPad Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air with OLED displays, according to Bloomberg. Apple already uses OLED displays in the iPad Pro, and has plans to expand the technology to additional devices in the coming months and years.
The iPad mini will get an OLED display as soon as 2026, and improved water resistance is also a possibility.
Apple does not plan to bring OLED technology to the iPad Air in 2026, and the model coming next spring will continue to use an LCD display. While the iPad Air will get OLED at a later date, it probably won't happen until at least 2027.
Eventually, Apple will sell the iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini all with OLED displays, but there are no plans to add OLED to the low-cost iPad.
The MacBook Pro will be updated with an OLED display when it is next updated, perhaps as soon as 2026. After adding an OLED display to the MacBook Pro, Apple will bring OLED to the MacBook Air. Apple has started early work on an OLED MacBook Air, but it isn't expected to see a launch until 2028 at the earliest.
The version of the MacBook Air planned for spring 2026 will continue to feature an LCD display.
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week.
The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included.
macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio quality when connections are poor, and a setting for a new tinted look for Liquid Glass.
This update includes the following features and enhancements:
Liquid Glass setting gives you the option to choose between the default clear look or a new tinted look which increases opacity of the material in apps and notifications on the Lock Screen
Apple Music AutoMix support over AirPlay
Improved FaceTime audio quality in low-bandwidth conditions
Communication Safety and Web content filters to limit adult websites are enabled by default for existing child accounts for ages 13-17 (Age varies by country or region)
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit: support.apple.com/100100.
Some features may not be available in all regions or on all Apple devices. To learn more, please visit: apple.com/macos/feature-availability.
Software updates, like this one, add new features and improvements that may affect performance and/or battery life. To learn more, please visit: support.apple.com/125039.
Apple often tests release candidates for approximately a week before providing a public software release. macOS Tahoe 26.1, iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and watchOS 26.1 could see a launch on Monday or Tuesday of next week.
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.
The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.
Apple Intelligence is now available in more languages in the updates, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPods Live Translation also works with Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese (both Mandarin Traditional and Simplified) in iOS 26.1.
There's a toggle to adjust the opacity of Liquid Glass, the Lock Screen Camera swipe can be disabled, and there are visual changes to Calendar, Safari, Apple Music, and Photos. Details on everything new in iOS 26.1 so far can be found in our iOS 26.1 feature list.
The iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 software will be released in early November.
Chinese smartphone maker Oppo recruited a former Apple Watch engineer who stole trade secret information from Apple and then gave a presentation on that data to hundreds of Oppo employees, Apple said in a court filing last week [PDF].
Back in August, Apple accused former employee Chen Shi of stealing Apple Watch trade secrets to provide to Oppo, and since then, the two companies have been battling it out in court. Apple claims that Oppo is withholding information, while Oppo says no trade secrets were disclosed.
Apple discovered that Shi gave a presentation on Apple sensor technology, providing insight into Apple's sensor development and future product plans. Internal Oppo communications promoted an "Apple Sensors" talk with Shi, titled "Apple's Sensor Hardware R&D Philosophy and Methodology." A tagline for the meeting said "Are you curious about how Apple's sensors are developed?"
Apple claims that Shi's presentation included slides taken directly from materials procured from Apple, and that he answered specific questions about sensor design at Apple. Oppo is accused of encouraging Shi to share the trade secret information.
Further, Apple says Oppo has not provided all of the documents or forensic device reports that Apple has asked for to determine the extent of the alleged data theft. Apple says that Dr. Shi was given the opportunity to delete information from Oppo's system after the original lawsuit was filed.
Apple asked the court for injunctive relief to stop Shi from sharing further information, and to stop Oppo products from being developed with Apple technology. Apple requested that employees exposed to Apple's trade secrets be quarantined and removed from any competitive technologies.
Oppo says that it conducted a comprehensive search of the systems that Shi had access to, and that there is "no indication that Oppo received any Apple trade secret information" from him. Oppo claims that the presentation Shi provided discussed "general engineering principles" that did not include information sourced from Apple.
Now the search is complete, and there is no indication that OPPO received any Apple trade secret information from Dr. Shi. There is consequently no basis for Apple to request preliminary injunctive relief, and it is not entitled to any such relief. OPPO has already looked for Apple's "trade secrets" and "confidential information" and found nothing that it might disclose, retain, use or be obligated to return.
Shi has agreed to participate in a deposition, but he has asked to extend the deadline because of a recent medical condition diagnosis that is "likely to be significantly exacerbated by participation in a lengthy, high-stress, and adversarial proceeding" like the deposition with Apple. He has also asked the court to issue a protective order to limit or stay his deposition because of his medical condition.
Oppo has been ordered by the court to provide the documents that Apple is requesting by October 31, or on a rolling basis starting on October 28 if there is a high volume of documents that need to be reviewed.
Prior to leaving Apple, Shi downloaded 63 files from Apple's protected Box folder and transferred them to a USB drive, then he searched for information on how to cover his tracks. Shi also reportedly attended "dozens" of one-on-one meetings with Apple Watch technical team members to learn about their research before he left the company.
Shi told Oppo that he would "collect as much information as possible" on heart rate sensing methods, and he now works at Oppo developing sensing technology.
In the original filing, Apple requested restitution, damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees, and an injunction to prevent Oppo and Shi from disclosing Apple's trade secrets.
Apple's new iPad Pro comes almost 18 months after the previous version with the M4 chip, so how different is the new model and should you consider upgrading?
The iPad Pro introduced last year was a major update, debuting the M4 chip, a significantly thinner design, a nano-texture option, OLED displays, a landscape front-facing camera, and more, as well as a new Magic Keyboard with an aluminum top case, function keys, and a trackpad with haptic feedback. With such a big update last year, the new iPad Pro Apple just launched with the M5 chip is much more iterative, focusing largely on chips and connectivity. Beyond their chips, the key differences are as follows:
256GB and 512GB models: 8GB memory 1TB and 2TB models: 16GB memory
256GB and 512GB models: 12GB memory 1TB and 2TB models: 16GB memory
~2–4 nits minimum brightness
1 nit minimum brightness
Drive external displays at 60Hz
Drive external displays at up to 120Hz
Adaptive Sync support
Fast-charge capable (Up to 50% charge using a 60W adapter or higher in 30 minutes with the 11-inch model or 35 minutes with the 13-inch model)
With the latest version of the iPad Pro, Apple is mainly touting the power of the M5 chip. Compared to the M4, it says the M5 is:
Up to 15% faster multithreaded CPU performance
Up to 30% faster overall graphics performance
Up to 45% faster ray tracing performance
27.5% higher unified memory bandwidth
In addition to general performance claims, Apple published a set of specific real-world workload results showing measurable gains in AI-driven applications with the M5 chip:
4×+ peak GPU compute performance for AI
3.6× faster time to first token (LLM)
1.8× faster Topaz Video Enhance AI processing
1.7× faster Blender ray-traced rendering
2.9× faster AI speech enhancement in Premiere Pro
Other notable changes compared to the M4 chip in the iPad Pro include:
M4 Chip
M5 Chip
Made with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process (N3E)
Metal 4 developer APIs with Tensor APIs to program GPU Neural Accelerators
Second-generation ray tracing engine
Third-generation ray tracing engine
First-generation dynamic caching
Second-generation dynamic caching
Shader cores
Enhanced shader cores
120 GB/s unified memory bandwidth
153 GB/s unified memory bandwidth
The M5 iPad Pro does have some notable upgrades: baseline memory has increased, SSD speed has doubled, the external display controller now supports 120Hz and Adaptive Sync, the GPU now integrates neural accelerators per core with new Tensor APIs, cellular connectivity is faster, and it now supports both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
However, the practical effect of these changes is very narrow. Almost every common iPad Pro workflow is already well within the capability envelope of the M4 model. As a result, the M5's gains will only reveal themselves in edge-case behaviors: very large AI-driven workloads, long exports on external drives, workloads that page into memory, or professional use with a 120Hz external display. Even for power-users of the M4 model, these situations are very rare.
This means the M5 is primarily a replacement-cycle product for owners of older iPads or laptops, rather than an upgrade-cycle product for recent buyers. If you currently own an M4 iPad Pro, there is no general-purpose reason to upgrade. Even for creative professionals, unless your pipeline explicitly leverages GPU-accelerated AI tools or 120Hz external displays, the upgrade will not translate into much time saved or dramatic capability gained.
By contrast, if you are upgrading from an older iPad Pro or intend to rely on the device for sustained AI or pro-grade external-monitor work for the next five years, the M5 does offer greater future headroom and reduced likelihood of hitting ceilings. The new model will likely last longer, being capable through more years of successive software updates and evolving requirements.
Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Donald Trump and other technology executives from the U.S. and Japan today at a closed-door dinner in Tokyo, in an effort to promote Japanese investment in the United States (via Bloomberg).
The dinner took place at the residence of U.S. Ambassador George Glass. President Trump used the event to highlight expected Japanese financing of U.S. projects under the $550 billion framework negotiated earlier in 2025, which was paired with tariff concessions on Japanese goods. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlined what he described as up to $490 billion worth of potential new Japanese-linked U.S. investment commitments.
Other attendees included Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Rakuten Chairman Hiroshi Mikitani, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, Honda President Toshihiro Mibe, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, and Toshiba CEO Taro Shimada. Trump said they were "phenomenal business people" and that the United States "won't let you down."
Japan is one of Apple's most important markets. The company sources a range of critical components from the country, such as image sensors from Sony, panels from Sharp and JDI, batteries from Murata, and more. Cook did not speak at the event and no Apple-specific investments or policy announcements were disclosed.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Apple's market capitalization briefly surpassed $4 trillion just after opening today, making it the third public company to reach that figure. Nvidia reached $4 trillion back in July and is creeping closer to $5 trillion, while Microsoft also hit $4 trillion that same month before dropping down to a $3.9 trillion valuation, but it too has passed $4 trillion again this morning.
Market capitalization is based on the total value of all outstanding Apple shares. We won't have an updated share count until Apple provides its earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2025, so it is worth noting that the current market cap is not quite accurate. Apple's next earnings report will be shared on Thursday, October 30.
Apple became the world's first $3 trillion company in January 2022, but it has not been able to keep up with Nvidia since then due to global demand for Nvidia's chips.
No other publicly traded companies are close to the $4 trillion mark aside from Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft. Google parent company Alphabet has a market valuation of $3.25 trillion, Amazon is at $2.42 trillion, and Meta's market valuation is $1.90 trillion.
Apple stock has been climbing since the September launch of the iPhone 17 models thanks to strong demand for the new devices.
Woot this week is still hosting a big sale on Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop bands for Apple Watch, with as much as 70 percent off these accessories. This sale is set to end on Friday, October 31.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
You can get the Solo Loop for just $14.99 ($34 off) and the Braided Solo Loop for $29.99 ($69 off). All bands in this sale are in brand new condition and come with a one-year Apple limited warranty, and they are all compatible with the new Apple Watch Series 11.
Shoppers should note that this sale is focused on colors of the Braided Solo Loop and Solo Loop that Apple has stopped selling, and it doesn't include any of the new band colors. That being said, all of the bands in this sale are in new condition.
The entire sale is focused on Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop Apple Watch bands, so you'll need to know the size that works best for you before you buy. Apple has a measurement tool on its website that you can use to determine your exact size.
If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find as we head into the holidays? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
Toyota has announced that its 2023 and newer battery electric vehicles (BEV) in the United States are adopting Apple Maps EV routing in CarPlay, a feature that will direct Toyota BEV owners to nearby electric vehicle charging facilities.
The Apple Maps EV Routing option will allow Toyota BEV users to plan travel routes that include stops for charging. Without it, drivers would have had to exit out of CarPlay in order to create a route that included charging stops.
Apple Maps' EV Routing feature uses real-time data from the vehicle to guide drivers to their destinations more efficiently, automatically suggesting charging stops when needed. The system takes into account elevation changes and other driving conditions to decide when a recharge is necessary. If the vehicle's battery level becomes too low, Apple Maps will automatically direct the driver to the nearest compatible charging station.
Toyota says that all BEVs with Toyota Audio Multimedia can enable Apple Maps EV Routing via Apple CarPlay, including the new 2026 Toyota bZ models that just went on sale.
Spotify has launched a redesigned Apple TV app that the company says has been "rebuilt from the ground up for a faster, smarter, more visual experience."
The new features include a brand new, refreshed design for tvOS 26, as well as two formats previously exclusive to the mobile version of the app – video podcasts and music videos.
The ability to watch music videos is still rolling out in the U.S. and Canada, but it has already expanded to 97 countries around the world, so everyone should have it soon.
Users should see a "switch to video" prompt that appears when a song being listened to also has an associated music video. Video versions of podcasts work similarly, with the added option to change playback speed.
The updated app also offers remote control via Connect, lyrics, Spotify DJ recommendations, seamless playback, and queue management.
Note that if you wait for the new version of the app via automatic updates, you won't see it until mid-November, so you'll want to download it yourself via the App Store.
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.
Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or iPhone near a compatible vehicle's NFC reader.
A tap on the door handle is enough to initiate an unlock, and while Face ID authentication is a security option, Apple offers an Express Mode that eliminates the need to authenticate for a faster unlocking process.
Car manufacturers like BMW, Rivian, Kia, Audi, and Hyundai have all implemented support for Car Keys since it was introduced. During its WWDC 2025 keynote in June, Apple said that 13 additional vehicle brands would "soon" offer iPhone car keys. Chinese carmaker Jetour, which mainly produces crossovers and SUVs, is a subsidiary of Chery – one of the brands Apple listed.
Apple is working to simplify the Camera Control button's design on the iPhone 18 in order to reduce costs, claims an established Chinese leaker.
The current Camera Control button on iPhone 17 models uses both capacitive and pressure sensors beneath a sapphire crystal surface. The capacitive layer detects touch gestures, while the force sensor recognizes different pressure levels for taps, presses, and swipes.
However, according to the Weibo-based account Instant Digital, Apple will remove the capacitive sensing layer and retain only pressure sensing recognition in the second iteration to achieve all Camera Control functions on the iPhone 18.
The single-sensor approach is similar to designs found in devices like the OPPO X8 Ultra and vivo X200 Ultra, where pressure sensors alone can recognize light taps, firm presses, and sliding gestures.
In later iterations, the leaker claims piezoelectric ceramics will be introduced to provide localized haptic feedback. While it's not entirely clear, this could be part of a wholesale switch to solid-state buttons that Apple is allegedly working on and which will debut in the 20th anniversary iPhone.
Instant Digital previously disputed rumors suggesting Apple plans to eliminate the Camera Control button from the iPhone 18. The simplified version is not about reducing functionality in the button, but about saving money. The current solution is said to be very expensive for Apple and is generating costly after-sales repairs.
The iPhone 18 Air, Pro, Pro Max, and foldable is expected to come in September 2026, while the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e will launch in 2027.
Apple's services business is expected to hit $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time this year, reports the Financial Times.
Apple's services unit is expected to deliver annual revenues of $108.6 billion in the year to last month, which is up around 13 percent from the previous year. That's according to analysts' estimates at Visible Alpha.
If the estimates prove accurate when Apple reports its Q4 fiscal results this week, Apple's services division will be larger than the entire annual sales of Disney or Tesla this year. According to JPMorgan, services could make up a quarter of Apple's revenue but as much as 50 percent of its profit.
Apple's services business includes revenue generated from the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, AppleCare, and Apple Pay. It also benefits from Apple's multibillion-dollar deal with Google to make it the default search engine on Apple devices.
The report notes that the mammoth revenues of Apple's high-margin division come despite mounting legal and regulatory pressure on its App Store, both from a looming U.S. anti-competition case from the Justice Department and new regulations in Europe that could curtail its App Store fees of up to 30 percent on digital goods purchases.
Despite ongoing legal challenges, analysts expect services to account for a growing share of Apple's business in the coming years, driven in part by the company's media expansion into live sports – including its recent $700 million deal to stream Formula 1 races in the U.S.
According to Visible Alpha estimates, services could account for over 30 percent of Apple's total revenue by the end of the decade, with sales potentially reaching $175 billion. By comparison, the iPhone is projected to account for roughly half of Apple's estimated $415 billion in total revenue for fiscal 2025, with smartphone sales expected to grow about 4 percent.
For the 20th anniversary iPhone due in 2027, Apple is developing a solid-state button system as a wholesale replacement for the device's traditional mechanical buttons. That's the latest claim from Weibo account "Instant Digital," and it's not the first of its kind from the Chinese leaker.
Back in 2022, several reports suggested Apple intended to bring solid-state buttons to the iPhone 15 Pro in 2023 as part of "Project Bongo." However, the plan was reportedly canceled at a late stage. They were then rumored to come to the iPhone 16 Pro, before being shelved indefinitely.
Subsequently in April and May this year, Instant Digital claimed that Apple was still investigating haptic buttons for a future iPhone. They even went so far as to suggest that the project is active not just for the iPhone, but for Apple's "entire product line," including iPad and Apple Watch.
Now the leaker claims that solid-state buttons will debut on the 20th anniversary iPhone or "iPhone XX," which will reportedly feature the biggest design shake-up since 2017's iPhone X. According to the leaker, Apple's solid-state button design has completed functional verification, and includes haptic feedback for the Side button, volume buttons, Action button, and Camera Control button.
Solid-state haptic buttons reduce mechanical wear, while enabling users to differentiate between a light press and a firm press to trigger different functions. The current design reportedly integrates buttons directly into the device frame with zero physical movement when pressed. But Apple wants these haptic buttons to feel like real buttons, not like pressing on a ridged piece of metal. Instant Digital speculates that Apple may adopt a vibration-based sound system that uses the back panel or frame to produce audio, combined with an AI-based sound compensation algorithm.
The rumor adds a new dimension to reports that claim Apple's 20th anniversary iPhone could look like a slab of glass with no cutouts and no bezels. Apple is reportedly working on a display that curves down around all four edges of the device for a borderless visual experience.
If Apple truly intends to release such a device, then traditional mechanical buttons – requiring physical openings in the chassis – arguably become design liabilities. Solid-state haptic buttons could elegantly resolve that tension with a visually uninterrupted design.
With a wraparound display, the edges of the screen could potentially merge into the button zones, creating interaction regions that subtly illuminate or shift depending on context – something that would be impossible with mechanical components.
It's an intriguing prospect, but one we'll have to wait for corroboration from other sources before getting too excited about. Until then, the restart of Project Bongo at Apple remains another unconfirmed rumor.
WhatsApp is developing a feature that will let users micro-manage the storage taken up by shared files in individual chat threads, greatly expanding the current storage management tools offered by the Meta-owned app.
In its existing form, WhatsApp lets you manage storage globally by going to Settings ➝ Storage and Data ➝ Manage Storage, where files and media can be browsed from every conversation.
There's also a "Media, Links, and Docs" option within each chat's info page where you can look at all of the shared files in a conversation, but it doesn't tell you how much space each file takes up.
To improve the situation, a new "Manage Storage" option has been added directly to the chat info page in the latest WhatsApp beta. As spotted by WaBetaInfo, the new section shows you how much storage each conversation takes up on your device. You can also view a grid of media shared within a chat, including photos, videos, and documents, organized by file size. There are also sorting options like "Newest," "Oldest," and "Largest" to help quickly locate specific items.
The change should make it easier to learn which files are taking up the most storage on your device within a given conversation, rather than having to trawl through a global gallery of files to find them. It's not clear when the new storage management tool will go live for users, but given its advanced development progress in the beta, we shouldn't have to wait too long.
Apple today scored a victory in a long-running antitrust lawsuit when the judge overseeing the case decertified it. The antitrust lawsuit was originally filed in 2011, accusing Apple of monopolizing the iPhone app ecosystem by refusing to allow customers to download apps outside of the App Store.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has been handling the case since 2012, but it did make its way through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court before being remanded back to a lower court. The case has dragged on because the plaintiffs have struggled to support their claims, demonstrate classwide harm, and provide a method for calculating the number of injured parties, and that's why it's now been decertified. Decertification means the case can no longer proceed as a class action lawsuit that represents all iPhone users who bought apps through the App Store. Instead, anyone who wants to sue Apple over the issue would need to file an individual lawsuit.
In a statement to MacRumors, Apple said that it was pleased with the court's decision.
We're pleased the Court recognized the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate the alleged harm to consumers and decertified the class. We continue to invest significantly to make the App Store a safe and trusted place for users to discover apps and a great business opportunity for developers.
The plaintiffs tried several times for class action certification and failed until 2023, when the court accepted expert testimony that promised a way to determine injury and damages on a classwide basis. At that time, Rogers granted the lawsuit class action status, but warned the plaintiffs that they would need to follow through with a functional model for determining who was harmed by Apple's actions and counted as a class member.
The plaintiffs needed to match Apple's payor records to consumers to calculate the number of people harmed, but the expert hired to do so made multiple serious errors and the data was not able to be used. Apple filed to have the error ridden data dismissed and for decertification, and Rogers granted both.
Rogers said the expert that the plaintiffs used was "not qualified," his methods were "not reliable," and he "did not reliably apply his methods," so his testimony was not considered relevant. The plaintiffs failed to provide a methodology to match Apple ID accounts to consumers, and are not able to prove damages on a classwide basis.
The plaintiffs plan to appeal the decertification.
Image via The Chosun Daily
