MacRumors

As planned, Spotify has updated its iPhone app in the U.S. with out-of-app pricing and subscription options for its Premium plans. The latest version of the app is now available in the App Store, and the added pricing information is rolling out.

Spotify users in the U.S. can now view pricing information for its Individual, Duo, Family, and Student plans directly in the iPhone app, and there are buttons that lead to Spotify's website, where users can complete the payment process.

For many years, Spotify has not allowed users to subscribe to Premium plans directly in its iPhone app, as the company does not want to pay Apple's 30% commission on in-app purchases. That remains the case as of today, but Spotify is now permitted to show buttons and links pertaining to out-of-app payment options, without any limitations.

Spotify shared the following statement today:

In a victory for consumers, artists, creators, and authors, Apple has approved Spotify's U.S. app update. After nearly a decade, this will finally allow us to freely show clear pricing information and links to purchase, fostering transparency and choice for U.S. consumers. We can now give consumers lower prices, more control, and easier access to the Spotify experience. There is more work to do, but today represents a significant milestone for developers and entrepreneurs everywhere who want to build and compete on a more level playing field. It's the opening act of a new era, and we could not be more ready for the show.

This monumental change comes after a U.S. judge ordered Apple to immediately allow apps to show this sort of information, as part of a lawsuit filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games. Apple is also no longer permitted to collect a 27% commission on those out-of-app purchases that are initiated through the App Store. Apple has complied with the order, but the company said it disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal.

The judge enforced these requirements after finding Apple violated a 2021 injunction by imposing too many barriers on out-of-app payment options.

Many other popular iPhone apps will likely be updated with out-of-app subscription buttons and information in the U.S. over the coming days.

Amazon this week had a huge sale across a number of Apple products, offering the best prices of the year so far on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4, 11th generation iPad, M3 iPad Air, Apple Watch Series 10, and M4 MacBook Air. All of these record low prices are still live today.

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.

AirPods

• What's the deal? Take up to $80 off AirPods
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

One of the best deals of the week is on the AirPods Pro 2, which have hit $169.00 on Amazon, down from $249.00, the best price we've tracked so far in 2025. You can also find low prices on AirPods 4 right now on Amazon.

Apple Watch

• What's the deal? Take up to $100 off Apple Watch Series 10 and SE
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

The Apple Watch Series 10 is available for $100 off this week on Amazon, while the Apple Watch SE is on sale for $80 off. These are both record low prices for each model of the Apple Watch.

11th Gen iPad

• What's the deal? Take $50 off 11th generation iPad
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Amazon introduced $50 discounts on nearly every 11th generation iPad this week, all hitting new all-time low prices in the process. Prices start at $299.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model.

M3 iPad Air

• What's the deal? Take $100 off M3 iPad Air
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

You'll also find new all-time low prices on nearly every M3 iPad Air this week on Amazon, with $100 off these tablets.

M4 MacBook Air

• What's the deal? Take $150 off M4 MacBook Air
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

If you're shopping for a new notebook, Amazon has the M4 MacBook Air available from $849.00 for the 256GB 13-inch model. All of these computers are hitting $150 off across the board, and like the rest of the deals from Amazon this week, they're new all-time low prices.

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.

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Since watchOS 7 in 2020, parents have been able to pair their iPhone to their child's Apple Watch. Formerly known as Apple Watch Family Setup, and now marketed as Apple Watch For Your Kids, this option allows kids to use an Apple Watch with a cellular plan for texting, calling, and location sharing, even if they do not own an iPhone.

For children, a cellular Apple Watch can be a stepping stone towards an iPhone, and Apple has now marketed that idea in a series of new ads.

On its YouTube channel in Canada, Apple has shared three short videos advertising the benefits of the Apple Watch For Your Kids feature. In each video, a child uses their cellular Apple Watch to text their parents. And in one of the videos, a parent reminds their child who is secretly at a shopping mall that they can see their child's location.

Three key benefits of a cellular Apple Watch for kids: texting, calling, and location sharing.

"Apple Watch with cellular lets your kids text, call and location share, all without their own phone," says each video's description.

Apple Watch For Your Kids requires a child to have an Apple Watch Series 4 or newer with watchOS 7 and later, while the parent must have an iPhone XS or later. A cellular Apple Watch is recommended for full functionality, but a limited set of features are available on Apple Watch models with Wi-Fi only.

More details are available on the Apple Watch For Your Kids page, and in a support document.

In the wake of yesterday's court ruling in the dispute between Apple and Epic Games over Apple's policies restricting developers' ability to inform users about alternatives to making purchases through Apple's in-app purchasing system, Apple has updated its App Review Guidelines to comply with the ruling.

Apple summarized the changes in an email to developers today:

3.1.1: Apps on the United States storefront are not prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action when allowing users to browse NFT collections owned by others.

3.1.1(a): On the United States storefront, there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, and no entitlement is required to do so.

3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront.

3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple must immediately comply with the ruling even as the company moves to appeal.

The changes are currently limited to the United States given the scope of the court case, but Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney offered a "peace proposal" pledging to drop all remaining litigation against Apple over the issue if Apple were to implement the required U.S. changes on a worldwide basis. Apple has so far given no indication that it is interested in accepting that proposal.

Following the court ruling and with Apple's policy changes, major app developers are already moving to make it easier for users to purchase or subscribe to content outside of the App Store, with Spotify already submitting an app update, Patreon indicating that it will do so, and ‌Epic Games‌ saying that it will bring Fortnite back to the U.S. ‌App Store‌.

Spotify today submitted an app update to Apple that will include information on Spotify plan costs and options to subscribe through weblinks without using the in-app purchase system. Spotify will not need to pay a fee to Apple when customers subscribe to the service using alternate payment methods in the Spotify app.

In a blog post announcing the changes, Spotify said that yesterday's ruling "delivers the benefits that all consumers deserve around the world," calling it a great day for Spotify users in the United States. Here's what Spotify says consumers will be able to do in the updated Spotify app:

• Can finally see how much something costs in our app, including pricing details on subscriptions and information about promotions that will save money;
• Can click a link to purchase the subscription of choice, upgrading from a Free account to one of our Premium plans;
• Can seamlessly click the link and easily change Premium subscriptions from Individual to a Student, Duo, or Family plan;
• Can use other payment options beyond just Apple's payment system--we provide a wider range of options on our website; and
• Going forward, this opens the door to other seamless buying opportunities that will directly benefit creators (think easy-to-purchase audiobooks)

Spotify said that it's "absurd" that it hasn't been able to offer these "basic services" to customers prior to now, and that "meaningful parts of Apple's anticompetitive barriers" have now been addressed, a change that is "long overdue."

According to Spotify, the decision could "unlock real opportunities for creators building their business and sharing their art with fans through Spotify." Publishers will soon be able to sell their audiobooks through the Spotify platform, for example.

Spotify, Epic Games, Patreon, and other app developers are submitting updates to the App Store with external purchase options. Apple has been ordered to allow developers to add links to external purchase options with no fee, "effective immediately."

Apple held its earnings call for the second fiscal quarter of 2025 today (second calendar quarter), announcing revenue of $95.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $24.8 billion. During the call, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about tariffs, the App Store changes Apple is facing, device sales, and more.

We've rounded up the most interesting tidbits from the Q2 2025 earnings call below.

U.S. App Store Changes

Cook was asked about some of the high-profile legal cases that Apple is facing right now, including the U.S. ‌App Store‌ changes that Apple was ordered to make yesterday, and how those legal cases might impact Apple's services business.

Cook repeated Apple's statement about complying and appealing, and didn't add much more beyond saying that the outcome is unclear.

The case yesterday, we strongly disagree with it. We've complied with the court's order, and we're going to appeal. In the DoJ case you referenced with Google, that case is ongoing, and I don't really have anything to add beyond that.

We're monitoring these closely. But as you point out, there's risk associated with them. And the outcome is unclear.

Tariffs

Cook said that tariffs had a limited impact on the March quarter because Apple was able to optimize its supply chain and inventory. Apple is unable to entirely estimate the impact of tariffs on the June quarter because policies could change, but if everything stays as it is now, the tariffs will add $900 million to Apple's costs.

Cook declined to speak on pricing or whether elevated costs will be passed along to consumers.

US Investment

Cook said that Apple is sourcing glass and Face ID modules from the United States, along with purchasing 19 billion chips from 12 states.

Apple Intelligence Siri Features

Cook said that Apple is "making progress" on the personal Siri features that the company announced at WWDC 2024. "We are making progress, and we look forward to getting these features into customers' hands," said Cook.

"It's just taking a bit longer than we thought," Cook added.

Apple Intelligence Impacting iPhone Sales

Cook said that during the March quarter, Apple saw year over year performance in countries with Apple Intelligence that was stronger than those countries where ‌Apple Intelligence‌ was not available.

Mac

Mac revenue grew 6.7 percent year over year, thanks to the new M4 MacBook Air and Mac Studio that came out during the quarter. The Mac install base grew to an all-time high, and Apple saw growth for upgraders and customers new to the Mac.

iPad

iPad revenue grew 15.2 percent year over year, with growth in every geographic segment. More than half of customers who purchased an ‌iPad‌ were new to the product. Apple debuted the M3 iPad Air and the ‌iPad‌ 11 during the quarter.

Wearables, Home and Accessories

Wearables revenue dropped 4.9 percent year over year due to a difficult compare against the launch of the Apple Vision Pro in the year-ago quarter.

Services

Apple's services revenue was up 11.6 percent year over year, an all-time revenue record, with strong performance across all categories. Apple TV+ set a new record for viewership during the quarter, and paid accounts and paid subscriptions grew double digits year over year. Apple now has more than 1 billion total paid subscriptions.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today provided some insight into how the tariffs levied by U.S. president Donald Trump have affected its business, and the future impacts that Apple is expecting should tariffs continue.

Cook said that tariffs had a limited impact on the March quarter as Apple was able to optimize its supply chain and inventory. Apple can't entirely estimate the impact of tariffs on the June quarter due to uncertainties, but with no changes, the tariffs will add $900 million to Apple's costs. From Apple's earnings call:

Now let me walk you through the impacts of tariffs in the March quarter, and give you some color on what we expect for the June quarter. For the March quarter, we had a limited impact from tariffs as we were able to optimize our supply chain and inventory.

For the June quarter, currently, we are not able to precisely estimate the impact of tariffs, as we are uncertain of potential future actions prior to the end of the quarter. However, for some color, assuming the current global tariff rates, policies and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter, and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add $900 million to our costs. This estimate should not be used to make projections for future quarters, as there are certain unique factors that benefit the June quarter.

Apple is already sourcing more than half of iPhones sold in the United States from India, while Macs, iPads, AirPods, and the Apple Watch come from Vietnam. For the June quarter, Cook said that Apple expects the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. to have India as a country of origin, while Apple will continue sourcing other products from Vietnam. Apple will source devices from China for the rest of the world.

Cook said that Apple's operational team has "done an incredible job around optimizing the supply chain and the inventory," and that Apple plans to continue to do those things to the degree that it is able to.

The 20 percent tariffs that Trump put in place earlier this year are the tariffs that are primarily impacting Apple, as many Apple products have been exempted from the 125 percent reciprocal tariffs. Some products, though, such as accessories, are subject to the total 145 percent tariffs.

Cook said that he doesn't know what will happen with the Section 232 investigation that will eventually see tariffs applied to semiconductors, a change that will impact Apple.

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.

During today's earnings call covering the second fiscal quarter of 2025, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged the Apple Intelligence Siri features that have been delayed. Cook said that Apple needs more time to ensure ‌Siri‌ meets its quality bar, but progress is being made.

With regard to the more personal Siri features we announced, we need more time to complete our work on these features, so they meet our high quality bar. We are making progress, and we look forward to getting these features into customers' hands.

Apple first unveiled the more personalized ‌Siri‌ features at WWDC 2024, and rumors suggested that the plan was to introduce them with an update to iOS 18. That didn't happen, and Apple earlier this year said that there would be a delay because more time was needed for development.

At this point, the new ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features will be held for iOS 19, and it is not yet clear if they will be in the first iOS 19 release or held for a later update. Apple's delay wording suggested that we could be waiting until 2026 for the functionality.

Behind the scenes, Apple made a number of changes to ‌Siri‌ leadership, moving AI chief John Giannandrea off of the project and instead turning to Mike Rockwell, who handled Vision Pro development.

Apple today announced financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, which corresponds to the first calendar quarter of the year.

For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $95.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $24.8 billion, or $1.65 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $90.8 billion and net quarterly profit of $23.6 billion, or $1.53 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Services revenue reached an all-time high during the quarter, while earnings per share set a March quarter record.

Gross margin for the quarter was 47.1 percent, compared to 46.6 percent in the year-ago quarter. Apple's board of directors also authorized an additional $100 billion for share repurchases and declared an increased dividend payment of $0.26 per share, up from $0.25 per share. The dividend is payable May 15 to shareholders of record as of May 12.

"Today Apple is reporting strong quarterly results, including double-digit growth in Services," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We were happy to welcome iPhone 16e to our lineup, and to introduce powerful new Macs and iPads that take advantage of the extraordinary capabilities of Apple silicon. And we were proud to announce that we've cut our carbon emissions by 60 percent over the past decade."

As has been the case for over five years now, Apple is once again not issuing guidance for the current quarter ending in June.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q2 2025 financial results conference call at 2:00 pm Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Conference call recap ahead...

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

Patreon plans to update its iOS app with new functionality that will allow creators to accept payments from followers without having to pay Apple's in-app purchase fees, a Patreon spokesperson told The Verge.

This is a huge moment for creators and their businesses. The iOS app is the number one platform for fan engagement on Patreon, and we believe this ruling allows creators to get paid without giving Apple 30 percent. As a first step, we will submit an app update for review by Apple to enable payments outside of IAP so creators keep more from iOS based fan payments.

In 2024, Apple forced Patreon to adopt support for the in-app purchase system, which meant that Apple started taking a 30 percent cut of all payments made to creators. Patreon gave creators the option of increasing their prices in just the iOS app, or absorbing the fee to keep prices the same across all platforms. Creators had to raise prices in the iOS app, lose money to pay Apple's cut, or encourage customers to subscribe on the web.

As of right now, Apple is still collecting a 30 percent App Store fee for all memberships purchased via Patreon for iOS, and for other digital goods purchased from Patreon shops.

Patreon does not have a timeline for when it plans to submit its app update with out-of-app payment options, and Apple also hasn't outlined exactly when it will change its ‌App Store‌ rules.

Apple has been ordered to stop restricting developers from informing customers about purchase options outside of an app in the U.S., and from collecting fees for out-of-app purchases.

The court said that it "will not tolerate further delays" and that the ruling, which was issued yesterday, was effective immediately.

Google today announced that it is starting to roll out a dedicated AI Mode tab for Google Search. A "small percentage" of people in the United States will start seeing the AI Mode option "in the coming weeks."

AI Mode is a feature that Google has been testing with its Labs feature. It is a dedicated search option like News, Images, and Shopping, providing AI answers to queries directly in the search interface. AI Mode uses Gemini 2.0, Google's core AI model.

In addition to starting to roll out AI Mode as a standard search feature, Google is bringing the AI Mode option to all U.S. users who want to try it through Google Labs.

The new AI Mode experiment in Search uses advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities from Gemini to help with even your toughest questions. You can ask whatever's on your mind and get an AI-powered response with the ability to explore further with follow-up questions and helpful web links. AI Mode does the heavy lifting for you, intelligently organizing information and gives you easy-to-digest breakdowns.

AI Mode is similar to the AI summaries that Google provides for standard searches, but it cuts out typical search results entirely, providing only an AI-based answer that's pulled from different websites and data on the web.

Google is bolstering AI Mode with visual place and product cards that offer an option to tap to get more information. For restaurants, salons, and stores, these cards will provide information like ratings, reviews, hours, and store inventory.

There's also now a dedicated left-side panel that includes an AI history for returning to past searches for follow-up questions.

Separately, Google has also started testing ads for some third-party AI assistants. According to Bloomberg, Google's AdSense network is running ads in some chatbot conversations, and Google confirmed that AdSense for Search is available for websites that want to show ads in their conversational AI experiences.

Epic Games today announced plans for ‌Epic Games‌ Store Webshops, a feature that will allow developers to launch digital storefronts that are hosted by the ‌Epic Games‌ Store. With Apple's mandated App Store rule changes in the United States, developers will soon be able to direct customers to web shops to make out-of-app purchases, bypassing the in-app purchase flow.

The ‌Epic Games‌ Store will charge developers a 0 percent fee for the first $1,000,000 in revenue they collect per app per year, and after that, developers will need to pay Epic a 12 percent cut. The fees are applicable to all payments that are processed by the ‌Epic Games‌ Store. ‌Epic Games‌ also says that players that spend in Epic Webshops will be able to accrue 5 percent Epic Rewards on all purchases.

Many smaller games do not exceed $1 million in revenue per year, so the ‌Epic Games‌ Store Webshop could be a viable option for small and independent developers. Developers that earn more will likely want to set up their own payment options using online payment platforms like Stripe or Shopify for even lower fees.

Epic's announcement follows a ruling yesterday that will see Apple forced to make major updates to its U.S. App Store policies as part of an ongoing ‌App Store‌ dispute with ‌Epic Games‌. Apple cannot prevent developers from directing customers to better deals outside of the ‌App Store‌, nor can the company collect fees for these purchases, among other changes.

Apple was ordered to comply with the order immediately, and the court said that it "will not tolerate further delays." Apple said that it plans to implement the changes as ordered, though it will appeal the decision.

Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday, May 11, and you can save on a bouquet from the website 1-800-Flowers when you pay with Apple Pay.

Now through May 9, you can get $20 off a bouquet and select other merchandise when you spend at least $49.99 at 1-800-Flowers.com, or in the 1-800-Flowers app, in the United States. To qualify for the discount, the purchase must be completed with Apple Pay, and you must enter the promo code APPLEPAY at checkout.

"Brighten Mom's day with beautiful flowers and more," says Apple, in an email about the offer.

A subset of Apple's software engineers started internal development of iOS 19.4 last month, according to the MacRumors visitor logs.

iOS 19.4 is expected to be released in March or April next year, so the software update is still nearly a year away. However, Apple develops both "Fall" and "Spring" versions of iOS each year, with our website's analytics logs indicating that both iOS 19.0 and iOS 19.4 are in active development within the company.

The start of iOS 19.4 development comes after Apple delayed its personalized Siri features until some point "in the coming year."

Apple first previewed the personalized Siri features during its WWDC 2024 keynote last June. The enhancements were initially expected to launch with iOS 18.4 a month ago, but they are now expected to arrive at some point during the iOS 19 cycle. Many well-connected Apple reporters and observers believe the features will not be available until 2026, so it is quite possible that they will launch as part of iOS 19.4 next year.

On the other hand, The New York Times last month said that Apple plans to roll out the revamped Siri this fall, but this report is an outlier for now. In this case, the features could debut as part of iOS 19 in September, or in iOS 19.1 in October.

All in all, the personalized Siri features should be available by iOS 19.4 at the latest, and the company is now working on that version.

Whenever they launch, the Siri upgrades will include understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. For example, during its WWDC 2024 keynote, Apple showed an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info from the Mail and Messages apps.

The promised Siri upgrades will be powered by Apple Intelligence, which has faced a rocky rollout. Apple was hit with class action lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada over its delayed personalized Siri features, and the company recently complied with the National Advertising Division's recommendation to remove "available now" wording from the Apple Intelligence web page. Apple also had to disable notification summaries for news apps after some of the summaries generated false information, and it has yet to re-enable the feature.

Apple has today been ordered to pay more than $700 million to the Texas-based cellular technology company Optis in a landmark UK patent ruling (via ipfray).

In London, the England and Wales Court of Appeal today ruled that Apple must pay a lump sum of $502 million to Optis Cellular Technology LLC for the use of standard-essential 4G patents in iPhones and iPads over a 14-year period spanning from 2013 to 2027. The decision marks a dramatic increase from the $56.43 million originally awarded by the High Court in 2023. In addition to the revised damages figure, the new judgment also includes interest, which could exceed $200 million, bringing Apple's total liability in the case to more than $700 million.

The dispute centers on whether Apple breached its obligations to license the patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms, which are required under international standards for the use of essential wireless technology. Optis is a Texas-based entity that does not manufacture products but holds and licenses intellectual property. It first raised the case in London in 2019.

Apple had previously argued that the royalty rates proposed by Optis were excessive and not compliant with FRAND principles. In a statement provided to Reuters, Apple said "We are disappointed by this decision and plan to appeal."

Optis makes no products and their sole business is to sue companies using patents they buy. We will continue to defend against their attempts to extract unreasonable payments.

The ruling is believed to be one of the largest patent damages awards in UK history. According to legal filings, Apple had previously expressed concern that an unfavorable royalty ruling could constitute grounds for exiting the UK market. While the company later walked back that position, the $700 million judgment moves the case significantly closer to that earlier worst-case scenario than had been anticipated following the High Court's original determination.

Apple can still petition the UK Supreme Court to review the case, but such appeals are usually granted only in limited circumstances, such as significant points of law or matters of public interest.

Update: Optis has issued a statement to MacRumors regarding the ruling:

We're pleased the UK Court of Appeals has recognized and corrected a clearly flawed prior ruling and has made meaningful progress toward affirming the true value of our patents to Apple devices. In addition to ordering payment that exceeds $700 million with interest and fees, the Court has judged that "Apple's significant negotiating strength leads some parties to agree lower rates than would be agreed between a willing licensor/willing licensee" thereby gaining an unfair advantage. We will continue to ensure fair compensation for the Optis intellectual property that enables high-speed connectivity for millions of devices around the world."

In the late 2000s, Facebook was a booming desktop web platform with a growing selection of third-party games and apps, including the viral sensation FarmVille. However, once the iPhone and other mobile devices became more popular, this started to change. In particular, Apple's closed-off App Store rules impacted the social network.

In a recent interview with Stratechery's Ben Thompson, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg briefly reflected on how the App Store's rules limited Facebook.

Specifically, he said that Apple not allowing Facebook to function as "a platform within a platform" on iOS contributed to the end of the FarmVille era:

Well look, the original Facebook platform was something that really just made sense for web, and it was sort of a pre-mobile thing. As the usage transitioned from desktop web to mobile, Apple basically just said, 'You can't have a platform within a platform and you can't have apps that use your stuff.' So that whole thing, which had grown to be a meaningful part of our business — I think by the time that we had our IPO in 2012, I think games and apps were about 20% of our business — but that basically just didn't have much of a future.

However, Apple is not entirely to blame for this particular situation. In the early 2010s, Facebook itself decided to lock down access to some APIs and made other policy changes that affected the ecosystem of games and apps on its platform, as a result of growing privacy, security, and customer experience considerations.

Zuckerberg went on to reflect on his company's "deep bitterness" over Apple's policies:

[…] it was one of these things that I think it's really just an artifact of Apple's policies that I think has led to this deep bitterness around not just this, but a number of things where they've just said, 'Okay, you can't do these things that we think would be valuable,' which I think to some degree contributes to some of that dynamic between our company and theirs. I think that's unfortunate.

In more recent years, Facebook was impacted by Apple's introduction of App Tracking Transparency, which limited targeted advertising on iOS.

Zuckerberg believes that mobile platforms like iOS should be more open, as desktop operating systems like macOS and Windows are.

With mounting litigation against Apple around the world, Zuckerberg might get his wish.

Apple's closed-off App Store rules have come under fire in recent years. Just yesterday, Epic Games landed a major victory against Apple, as a U.S. judge ruled that Apple violated a 2021 injunction that required it to allow app developers to direct customers to third-party purchase options on the web using in-app links. Effective immediately, Apple must stop impeding developers' ability to communicate with users, and it also must stop charging a 27% commission on purchases made via these in-app links.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The ongoing lawsuit alleges that Apple illegally maintains a monopoly in the smartphone market with the iPhone and the device's locked-down ecosystem.

Bit by bit, the walls surrounding Apple's infamous walled garden are beginning to come down.

Amazon this week has a few models of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 available for $729.99, down from $799.00. Free shipping options provide an estimated May 6 delivery date, but Prime members can get it as soon as May 2 depending on your location.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Overall, this is a solid second-best price on the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Deals on this version of the Apple Watch have been fairly rare in 2025, and we haven't seen a return of the all-time low price since the holidays.

There are five models of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 on sale for $729.99 right now on Amazon, including four Black models and one Natural model. These deals don't require any coupon codes and have been applied automatically on Amazon.

• Black with Black Ocean Band
• Black with Black Trail Loop (M/L)
• Black with Black Trail Loop (S/M)
• Black with Dark Green Alpine Loop (Large)
• Natural with Navy Ocean Band

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.

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MacRumors is pleased to announce our Sixteenth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2025. Let's save lives together by encouraging donations of blood, platelets, and plasma, and signing up as bone marrow and organ donors. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location, our blood drive is online and worldwide. Anyone can participate.

Over the past 15 years, MacRumors Blood Drives have recorded donations of 1,565 units of blood, platelets, and plasma, cheered for donors, and celebrated new signups for the bone marrow and organ donor registries. We've heard from hundreds of forum members who donate or whose lives were saved by the donations of strangers.

This year's featured donor is user Linda+, who donates platelets every 2 or 3 weeks. Whether you're a regular donor like Linda+ or someone overcoming apprehension to donate for the very first time, we congratulate you.

How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive

1. If you are an eligible donor, schedule a blood, platelet, or plasma donation (FAQ) at any donation center near you. Post in the MacRumors 2025 Blood Drive! thread (not our news thread) to tell us about it. Also post if you sign up for the bone marrow registry (FAQ) or register as an organ donor. We'll add all registrants to our Honor Roll.
2. If you aren't eligible to donate blood, such as for medical reasons, please encourage a friend or relative to make a donation, and let us know. If they donate, you'll both be added to our Honor Roll. Note that monogamous donors of any sexual orientation are now permitted to donate blood in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
3. Share our #MacRumorsBloodDrive message with friends, relatives, and followers. Help us thank the forum members who post in the MacRumors 2025 Blood Drive! thread.

After the MacRumors Blood Drive ends on May 31, continue recording your blood, platelet, and plasma donations, from June 2025 through next April 2026, on our Team MacRumors 2025-2026 page (instructions). We'll tally your donations and count them for the MacRumors 2026 Blood Drive next May.