It would have been really easy to miss it, but Apple last year briefly mentioned a new PayPal feature coming to the Wallet app on the iPhone.
In the final sentence of an October 2024 press release, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Apple Pay, Apple said iPhone users in the U.S. would be able to see their PayPal balance when using their PayPal debit card in the Wallet app. Apple said this feature would launch in 2025, so it should arrive in a future iOS 18 or iOS 19 update.
Here is exactly what Apple said in the press release last year:
Next year, customers in the U.S. will also be able to see their PayPal balance when using their PayPal debit card in Apple Wallet, giving them greater visibility and confidence when shopping.
This will be an expansion of the Connected Cards feature in the Wallet app. This feature lets you view a supported credit card or debit card's balance, along with up to two years of your full transaction history, including purchases that were not made with Apple Pay. The feature is currently available for select bank cards in the U.K. and Discover credit cards in the U.S., and it will expand to the PayPal debit card this year.
Two human rights groups have filed a legal complaint with the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in an attempt to quash the UK government's demand for Apple to allow backdoor access to its encrypted data (via Financial Times).
Earlier this year, the UK government invoked the Investigatory Powers Act to demand that Apple create a backdoor granting secret access to encrypted user data stored in iCloud globally. However, Apple refused to comply.
In response, rather than granting the requested access, Apple withdrew Advanced Data Protection from the UK, ensuring it would not be required to provide decryption capabilities. Advanced Data Protection offers end-to-end encryption for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users' data stored in iCloud.
Apple subsequently lodged a legal complaint to the IPT. "We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products, and we never will," Apple said at the time.
Now Privacy International and Liberty have done the same. The groups argue that Apple's appeal should be heard in public, and that ordering Apple to compromise the security of its products breaches its customers' free expression and privacy rights.
"The UK's use of a secret order to undermine security for people worldwide is unacceptable and disproportionate," said Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director at Privacy International. "People the world over rely on end-to-end encryption to protect themselves from harassment and oppression. No country should have the power to undermine that protection for everyone."
"It would be an entirely reckless and unprecedented move from the UK government to open up a back door to this data, and one that will have global consequences," said Akiko Hart, Liberty’s director. "We need concrete guarantees from the UK government that they won’t proceed with these plans."
The matter is being considered at a closed hearing of the tribunal at the High Court on Friday. Apple is not able to discuss the order made by the UK in public due to the terms of the law.
Several UK media organizations, including the BBC, Reuters, Sky News and the publishers of The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, Computer Weekly and Financial Times, have also made a submission to the IPT arguing that the Apple case should not be heard in private.
The US government is also looking into whether the UK's demand has violated the CLOUD act, which keeps the UK from asking for data from US citizens, and vice versa.
In a February interview with The Spectator, US president Donald Trump said he confronted UK prime minister Keir Starmer over the move and compared it with Chinese government surveillance.
"We told them you can't do this," Trump said. "We actually told [Starmer]... that's incredible. That's something, you know, that you hear about with China."
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Apple says it will add support for a new Rich Communication Services (RCS) specification that includes end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for messages sent over the protocol in future software updates.
"End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning, and now we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA," said an Apple spokesperson. "We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates."
The GSM Association (GSMA), the organization responsible for developing the RCS standard, started working to enable E2EE on messages sent between Android and iPhone in September last year. It only announced the new RCS specification with E2EE support today, so it's not clear how long it will take Apple to incorporate the updated profile into its software. But at least it's coming.
Apple adopted RCS with last year's release of iOS 18.1, which replaced SMS with RCS messaging for texts sent to Android users. While the update brings improvements such as high-resolution media sharing, read receipts, and typing indicators, it notably lacks E2EE – something Apple's proprietary iMessage system already supports.
The implementation of E2EE for cross-platform RCS messages would prevent third parties, such as messaging services or cell carriers, from viewing the content of texts. This added layer of security would also prevent state surveillance of citizens' RCS communications.
Google Messages already supports E2EE by default for RCS texts, but this applies only to conversations between Google Messages users. Messages exchanged with iPhone users or those using other RCS clients on Android are not encrypted.
Apple made a major misstep with the way that it handled the delay of Apple Intelligence features for Siri, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuosaid today. Announcing the delay through a press statement was a bad decision, and Apple should instead have gone through official channels.
Kuo referenced the well-known "Antennagate" PR crisis when the iPhone 4 launched in 2010, and the way that then Apple CEO Steve Jobs handled it. Jobs personally responded to multiple customer emails, and then Apple held a press conference to address concerns about the iPhone 4's cellular signal. Jobs ended up announcing that Apple would provide free bumpers for all iPhone 4 uses to mitigate the issue, and allow customers who were still unhappy to return their iPhones.
The implication in Kuo's statement is that Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives should follow Jobs' example, giving customers more insight into what's going wrong with Siri development.
I think the worst part is that when it came time to admit that Apple Intelligence (Siri) development wasn't going as planned, Apple chose to break the news to the world through an unofficial channel. This is how the world's most valuable company handles a PR crisis.
What should Apple have done? The way Steve Jobs personally addressed the iPhone 4 antennagate PR crisis back in the day provides a great example.
Kuo acknowledges that it takes time to develop artificial intelligence services, and that Apple's early announcement of Apple Intelligence Siri features at WWDC 2024 is understandable "given the pressure from the board and shareholders." With the company unable to deliver the feature set in the promised timeline, Apple needs to provide a more concrete response.
In the midst of Antennagate, Jobs was transparent about Apple's position and offered a concrete solution. Jobs said that Apple did not "fully understand if there were problems" when the iPhone 4 first came out, but that the company had a responsibility to educate as a "leader in the smartphone world." "We're not perfect, and we're working our asses off," Jobs said.
Back in 2012, Cook did personally addressApple Maps shortcomings in iOS 6, penning an apology letter to customers. He told customers that he was sorry, and he provided insight into Apple's work to make the Maps app better. Given the uproar over the delayed Siri overhaul, it could make sense for Cook to again speak to customers directly.
Apple is working on a feature that will let the AirPods translate in-person conversations from one language to another, reports Bloomberg. The functionality will be linked to iOS 19, and it will be introduced in an AirPods software update planned for later this year.
The AirPods will be able to provide a simpler translation process for people who are speaking different languages, though the process will rely on the Translate app on the iPhone.
If an English speaker with AirPods is talking to someone who is speaking Spanish, the iPhone will detect the audio, translate the speech, and relay it back in English to the person wearing AirPods. The person speaking English will then be able to respond and have their response translated to Spanish and spoken aloud by the iPhone. Apple's iPhone Translate app can already be used for conversations like this, but having the function included in the AirPods will streamline the exchange.
To go along with the new AirPods feature, Apple is also planning to improve the Translate app in iOS 19, though no details are available at this time. While Apple is working on new AirPods Pro 3 earbuds that are set to launch in 2025, it sounds like Apple might bring the iOS 19 Translate feature to existing models as well.
Apple has been tying AirPods updates to iOS updates in recent years. In iOS 18, for example, Apple added a suite of hearing health capabilities that test for hearing issues and allow the AirPods to be used as a hearing aid if problems are detected.
In the two weeks since the iPhone 16e launched, some early adopters of the device have experienced a Bluetooth audio issue.
According to complaints from affected users across the Apple Support Community, Reddit, and X, audio being streamed from an iPhone 16e to a Bluetooth speaker periodically stutters or cuts out. It is unclear how widespread the problem is.
One affected user said the issue has persisted even after updating the iPhone 16e to iOS 18.3.2, released earlier this week. It is unclear if the issue is or will be resolved in iOS 18.4, which is currently in beta and will be released in April.
Some affected users said the issue appears to arise when the iPhone 16e is connected to multiple Bluetooth accessories simultaneously.
Given that some of the affected users have contacted Apple's support representatives about this issue, hopefully the company is aware of the problem and working on a fix, which should arrive in a future software update.
Google's Gemini AI product is now able to absorb a user's search history in order to provide more personalized information, Google announced today. The Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking model is able to connect to Google apps and services to tailor responses based on past searches.
Google says that this feature will save time and will provide users with "more precise answers." For now, Gemini is only able to read search history, but in the future, it will be able to connect with other Google apps and services. Gemini's access to search history is opt-in, and it is experimental at this time.
In the Gemini app, users can use the model menu to select "Personalization" to connect their Google search history. When making a request, Gemini will then analyze search history to see if it is able to enhance a response.
Google says that search history will only be used when its reasoning models decide that it's helpful, and that early testers have found the feature useful for brainstorming and personalized recommendations.
Gemini with personalization is available to Gemini and Gemini Advanced subscribers on the web, and will be rolling out on mobile soon.
OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT chatbot, today submitted AI recommendations to the Trump administration, calling for deregulation and policies that give AI companies free rein to train models on copyrighted material in order to compete with China on AI development.
AI companies cannot freely innovate while having to comply with "overly burdensome state laws," according to OpenAI. The company claims that laws regulating AI are "easier to enforce" with domestic companies, imposing compliance requirements that "weaken the quality and level of training data available to American entrepreneurs." OpenAI suggests that the government provide "private sector relief" from 781+ AI-related bills introduced in various states.
OpenAI outlines a "copyright strategy" that would preserve "American AI models' ability to learn from copyrighted material." OpenAI argues that AI models should be able to be trained freely on copyrighted data, because they are "trained not to replicate works for consumption by the public" and thus align with the fair use doctrine. With its AI copyright laws, OpenAI says that the European Union has repressed AI innovation and investment.
OpenAI claims that if AI models are not provided with fair use access to copyrighted data, the "race for AI is effectively over" and "America loses." OpenAI asks that the government prevent "less innovative countries" from "imposing their legal regimes on American AI firms."
For AI data sharing, OpenAI suggests a tiered system that would see AI tech shared with countries that follow "democratic AI principles," while blocking access to China and limiting access to countries that might leak data to China. The company also suggests government investment in utilizing AI technology and building out AI infrastructure.
The use of copyrighted material for AI training has angered artists, journalists, writers, and other creatives who have had their work absorbed by AI. The New York Times, for example, has sued Microsoft and OpenAI for training AI models on news articles. Many AI tools assimilate and summarize content from news sites, driving users away from primary sources and oftentimes providing incorrect information. Image generation engines like Dall-E and Midjourney have been trained on hundreds of millions images scraped from the internet, leading to lawsuits.
OpenAI has submitted its proposals to the Office of Science and Technology Policy for consideration during the development of a new AI Action Plan that is meant to "make people more productive, more prosperous, and more free." The full text is available on OpenAI's website.
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.
In 2025, Apple updated the Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips. Apple last year refreshed the Mac mini with the M4 and M4 Pro chips, meaning that the Mac Studio faces a formidable competitor that offers "Pro" capabilities at a substantially lower price point.
There are now two desktop Macs and four Apple silicon chip options for users who do not need the expandability of the Mac Pro. The Mac Studio starts at $1,999, overshadowing the $599 starting price of the M4 Mac mini and even the $1,399 starting price of the M4 Pro Mac mini, so do you need the performance of the Mac Studio, or is the humble Mac mini sufficient for your needs? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two desktop Macs is best for you.
The Mac mini and the Mac Studio share some fundamental features, including a familiar, boxy silver aluminum design, two front-facing USB-C ports along with HDMI and ethernet on the rear, and Apple silicon chipsets. That being said, the two machines have much more in contrast than they do in common, including different chip options, memory capacities, ports, and external display support capabilities.
Mac mini (M4, 2024)
Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024)
Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025)
Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 2025)
M4 chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3E) process)
M4 Pro chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3E) process)
M4 Max chip (made with TSMC's 3nm (N3E) process)
M3 Ultra chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 5nm (N3B) process)
4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed
4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed
4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed
4.05 GHz maximum CPU clock speed
10-core CPU (4 performance cores + 6 efficiency cores)
12- or 14-core CPU (8 or 10 performance cores + 4 efficiency cores)
14- or 16-core CPU (10 or 12 performance cores + 4 efficiency cores)
28- or 32-core CPU (20 or 24 performance cores + 8 efficiency cores)
10-core GPU
16- or 20‑core GPU
32- or 40-core GPU
60- or 80-core GPU
Improved ray-tracing engine
Improved ray-tracing engine
Improved ray-tracing engine
Ray-tracing engine
120GB/s memory bandwidth
273GB/s memory bandwidth
546GB/s memory bandwidth
819.2GB/s memory bandwidth
16GB, 24GB, or 32GB unified memory
24GB, 48GB, or 64GB unified memory
36GB, 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB unified memory
96GB, 256GB, or 512GB unified memory
LPDDR5X memory
LPDDR5X memory
LPDDR5X memory
LPDDR5 memory
256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage
512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage
512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage
1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, or 16TB storage
16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second
16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second
16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second
32-core Neural Engine, 72 trillion operations per second
Video decode engine
Video decode engine
Video decode engine
Two video decode engines
Video encode engine
Video encode engine
Two video encode engines
Two video encode engines
ProRes encode and decode engine
ProRes encode and decode engine
Two ProRes encode and decode engines
Four ProRes encode and decode engines
Dedicated display engine
Dedicated display engine
Dedicated display engine
Support for up to three external displays
Support for up to three external displays
Support for up to five external displays
Support for up to eight external displays
Three rear Thunderbolt 4 ports
Three rear Thunderbolt 5 ports
Four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports
Four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports
Two front USB-C ports
Two front USB-C ports
Two front USB-C ports
Two front Thunderbolt 5 ports
Two rear USB-A ports
Two rear USB-A ports
Gigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port
Gigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port
10Gb Ethernet port
10Gb Ethernet port
SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
Bottom power button
Bottom power button
Rear power button
Rear power button
Starts at $599
Starts at $1,399
Starts at $1,999
Starts at $3,999
Following the Mac mini's redesign last year, the dimensions of the two devices are now radically different, with the Mac Studio dwarfing the Mac mini in every way.
Mac mini
Mac Studio
Height
2.0 inches (5.0 cm)
3.7 inches (9.5 cm)
Width
5.0 inches (12.7 cm)
7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Depth
5.0 inches (12.7 cm)
7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Weight
M4: 1.5 pounds (0.67 kg) M4 Pro: 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg)
M4 Max: 5.9 pounds (2.7 kg) M3 Ultra: 7.9 pounds (3.6 kg)
Most customers should choose the M4 Pro Mac mini over the M4 Max Mac Studio, saving $700 when looking at the base models. There will likely still be substantial savings when it comes to custom configurations.
You should only consider the Mac Studio if you have an professional workflow that can leverage the extreme power of the M4 Max or M3 Ultra, as well as its additional ports and memory options. If you need the Mac Studio, you will likely know that you are looking for a highly powerful machine that is capable of supporting specific intense workflows.
If considering the M4 Max or M3 Ultra Mac Studio, it's worth bearing in mind that the cheaper machine uses newer chip technology with faster memory, improved ray-tracing, and better single-core performance. For multi-core, graphics, and video processing tasks, the M3 Ultra Mac Studio will still be considerably more capable at tackling intense workloads.
To some extent, purchasing decisions should be driven by budget, but it is worth bearing in mind that any savings on the desktop computer itself can be put toward a good external display such as Apple's Studio Display, which starts from $1,599. For example, an M4 Pro Mac mini paired with a Studio Display comes to $2,898, which is just $899 more than a lone base model Mac Studio and $1,101 less than the M3 Ultra Mac Studio with no display.
As early as last July, Kuo said expectations that Apple Intelligence could drive iPhone upgrades were likely "too optimistic," and in January, he was even more explicit and said that the appeal of Apple Intelligence had "significantly declined" because of the delay between when Apple showed off Apple Intelligence features in June and when they launched starting in October.
Kuo is maintaining his cautious view in light of Apple's Siri debacle, which has seen the company delay heavily advertised Apple Intelligence Siri features that it initially said would come in iOS 18.
According to Kuo, Apple is already aware of Apple Intelligence's "underwhelming performance," and has provided suppliers with conservative iPhone shipment forecasts as a result.
Lately, the market consensus has shifted to a more cautious stance on iPhone shipments and Apple Intelligence (Siri), which supports my earlier predictions. Moreover, it's clear that when Apple shared conservative shipment forecasts with its key suppliers early this year, they had already factored in Apple Intelligence's underwhelming performance.
The negative public sentiment that Apple is facing due to the Apple Intelligence Siri delay could further impact sales of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models in the coming months. Apple last week said that Siri personal context and App Intents are being pushed back until the "coming year," and it doesn't seem like the company expected such a critical reaction from the tech community and its customers.
Longtime Apple reporter John Gruber, for example, recently published an in-depth report calling out Apple's Siri shortcomings, and his commentary has resonated with many who have the same feelings about Apple's longtime struggle with Siri improvements.
Many others have also spoken up on the very public demonstrations of Apple Intelligence Siri features that Apple provided over the course of the last year and the subsequent delay that has shaken public confidence in the company's ability to deliver AI features that can compete with OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and others.
Apple Music Classical launched in most countries in March 2023, allowing users with a standard Apple Music subscription to stream more than five million classical music tracks, at no additional cost. Apple Music Classical is based on Primephonic, a classical music streaming service that was acquired by Apple in 2021.
To celebrate Apple Music Classical becoming available on the web, an Apple spokesperson said a new recording of Julius Eastman's Symphony No. 2 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 from conductor Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra will be available exclusively on Apple Music Classical for the next six weeks.
Apple Music Classical is also available as an app on the iPhone, iPad, and Android, and it gained CarPlay support last year. There is still no Mac app.
Today we're tracking a collection of discounts on Apple's M4 MacBook Pro at Amazon, including as much as $450 off select models of the computer. All of these deals have been applied automatically on Amazon and do not require an on-page coupon in order to see the final sale price.
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.
Deals include both 14-inch and 16-inch models, and the biggest savings will be found on the latter group. The steepest discount is on the 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Max 48GB RAM/1TB), available for $3,549.00, down from $3,999.00. At $450 off this is a new all-time low price on the high-end model.
For the 14-inch models, you'll find up to $350 off these computers on Amazon this week. You can get the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro (16GB RAM/512GB) for $1,399.00, down from $1,599.00, which is just a few dollars higher when compared to the all-time low price on the computer.
Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.
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At WWDC 2024, Apple announced Swift Assist, an AI-powered coding companion integrated into Xcode 16 that's designed to assist developers by generating code from natural language prompts. At the time, Apple said Swift Assist would be coming "later this year."
We're now three months into 2025, and it's nowhere to be seen.
Swift Assist (Image: Apple)
Unlike Apple Intelligence, Swift Assist never appeared in beta. Apple hasn't announced that it's been delayed or cancelled. The company has since released Xcode 16.3 beta 2, and as Michael Tsai points out, it's not even mentioned in the release notes.
Swift Assist is different from the new predictive code completion engine in Xcode 16 that can suggest the code developers need and runs locally on a developer's device. Here's how Apple described Swift Assist in its Platforms State of the Union:
Building an app is more than just typing code. It's about transforming entire ideas into code. And the easiest way to do that is with natural language. So we created a larger and more powerful model that runs in the cloud. And crafted a unique experience in Xcode that only Apple could deliver. Introducing Swift Assist, a companion for all your coding tasks. And whether you know exactly what you're after, or want help writing the best Swift code, Swift Assist can answer your coding questions and help with tasks like experimenting with new APIs.
Swift Assist knows Apple's latest SDKs and Swift language features, so you'll always get up-to-date and modern code that blend perfectly into your project. So now, tasks like exploring new frameworks and experimenting with new ideas are just one request away. Like all Apple developer services, Swift Assist is built with your privacy and security in mind. Your code is never stored on the server. It's only used for processing your request, and most importantly, Apple doesn't use it for training machine learning models. Swift Assist and the new predictive completions will turbo charge the way you work in Xcode. This marks the beginning of a journey to add extraordinary intelligence into our tools. What an exciting time to be developing for Apple platforms.
Unfortunately, any initial excitement has long been replaced by frustration. Check out some of the comments from the developer community:
I could really use Swift Assist to deal with some SwiftUI problems I'm having. None of the LLMs are particularly good at SwiftUI, and seem to be wasting more of my time than they're saving. When, Apple???? You're the only ones with the data and the incentive to build a really knowledgeable Swift coding LLM.... super frustrating.
Unfortunately Apple are so far behind the AI curve right now. They spent so much time on the useless AR glasses that every other company has killed off. I think [Tim Cook] thought the AR was his iPhone moment. Should have spent the time and money on AI like everyone else. Code complete is a joke compared to VSCode with Copilot.
It's feeling more and more like this is something that will get rolled back to Xcode 17 this summer. Has anybody heard anything about it? Maybe it'll be quietly pulled all together, in favour of better Xcode integration with Chat GPT and the like?
WWDC is starting to feel more and more like a preview of what Apple might release over the coming year - but normally the dev tools they show are shipped by the end of the summer.
It's a bad look for Apple, especially given the current controversy surrounding the company's delayed personalized Siri features. WWDC 2025 is less than three months away, and it seems that developers are beginning to wonder whether they'll ever see Swift Assist in Xcode 16 at all. We've reached out to Apple for comment.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday issued its final verdict on the state of the country's mobile browser market, and the regulator has concluded that Apple's policies are largely responsible for hampering competition and innovation.
The CMA's independent inquiry group's investigation found that Apple's requirement for all iOS browsers to use its WebKit engine is stifling competition, and effectively prevents rival browsers from introducing unique features or optimizations on iPhones and iPads, regardless of their capabilities on other platforms.
The full report outlines several problematic Apple practices beyond the WebKit requirement, including giving Safari preferential access to iOS features compared to competing browsers, imposing limitations on in-app browsing, and prominently displaying Safari as the pre-installed default browser on all iPhones.
Google also came under scrutiny for pre-installing Chrome on Android devices, but the investigation found that Apple's restrictions were more fundamental to market competition. The CMA also flagged the lucrative arrangement where Google pays Apple billions annually to remain the default search engine on iOS devices, noting this deal "significantly reduces their financial incentives to compete."
Both companies have made some concessions since the CMA published its preliminary findings last November. The report acknowledges these improvements have "addressed some, but not all, of the concerns relating to choice architecture," specifically mentioning Apple's December software update that modified how users can change default browsers.
However, to address the remaining issues, the regulator proposed several potential remedies including forcing Apple to allow alternative browser engines on iOS, implementing browser choice screens during device setup (similar to the one found in the EU), and restricting the revenue-sharing search deal between Apple and Google.
These recommendations aren't immediately enforceable, as the CMA is first proceeding with separateinvestigations to determine whether Apple and Google should be designated with "strategic market status" (SMS) under the UK's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The designation is expected to be decided later this year, and would give the CMA authority to impose stricter regulations on the companies.
If granted SMS designation, Apple and Google could face legally binding conduct requirements and risk substantial penalties — up to 10% of their annual global turnover — for violations.
The cloud gaming portion of the investigation, which had previously raised concerns about Apple's App Store restrictions, concluded that "no further action is necessary" following policy changes Apple made during the course of the investigation.
Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to feature a significant design overhaul, and a new image apparently taken on an assembly line for the unreleased devices appears to confirm the biggest rumored change.
Render of an iPhone 17 Pro model shared by Jon Prosser
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to adopt a horizontal camera bar reminiscent of Google's Pixel series, and this bar is expected to span the width of the device's back, housing the triangular triple-camera setup on the left, and the flash, microphone, and LiDAR sensor on the right. It is not clear why Apple would use this design, nor what the extra space would be used for, but it has shown up several times now.
The image below, shared on X (Twitter) by leaker Majin Bu, purports to show CNC-machined aluminum or titanium chassis components for the iPhone 17 Pro Max that mirror these expected changes, while the large circular openings likely correspond to areas for internal components like the MagSafe coil or battery. The stacked-together parts look precision-milled with visible CNC tool paths, suggesting they are freshly machined structural elements ready for further processing.
There have been reports that Apple may revert to using aluminum frames for the iPhone 17 Pro, moving away from the titanium used in the previous iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models.
Rumors suggest Apple plans to use a half glass, half aluminum build, which would increase durability. The glass would allow wireless charging to continue to be available, but a partial aluminum frame would be less prone to breakage.
There is said to be a glass section around the Apple logo that's integrated into an overall metal chassis, so the circular openings in the image could also be related to this change. Then again, the openings could be associated with a new wireless reverse charging feature.
Apple has apparently tested a 7.5W reverse wireless charging for the iPhone 17 Pro, which would allow the iPhone to provide wireless power to other Apple devices like AirPods and Apple Watch. Current iPhones are able to provide 4.5W of power to the Apple Watch and AirPods over USB-C, but there is no option for reverse wireless charging.
According to one rumor, the body thickness of the iPhone 17 Pro Max will increase to 8.725mm, up from the 8.25mm of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which may be to fit a bigger battery.
The camera module redesign extends to the new iPhone 17 Air model, which is set to replace the Plus variant in Apple's lineup. This thinner device will allegedly feature a similar horizontal camera bar design, though it will accommodate just a single camera lens.
In contrast, the base iPhone 17 is expected to maintain the current camera design language seen in the iPhone 16 series, helping to further differentiate Apple's premium and standard offerings. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series next September. Are you excited by the expected design changes? Let us know in the comments.
Keynote by keynote, product by product, feature by feature, year after year after year, Apple went from a company that you couldn't believe would even remain solvent, to, by far, the most credible company in tech. Apple remains at no risk of financial bankruptcy (and in fact remains the most profitable company in the world). But their credibility is now damaged. Careers will end before Apple might ever return to the level of "if they say it, you can believe it" credibility the company had earned at the start of June 2024.
This obviously isn't the first time that Apple has failed to deliver. However, Gruber said other examples like the canceled AirPower charging mat "tended to be around the edges," whereas he believes that generative AI is going to be "big" and "important."
It's not the delay by itself that bothers Gruber. He said the true "fiasco" here is that Apple "pitched a story" last year "that wasn't true":
The fiasco here is not that Apple is late on AI. It's also not that they had to announce an embarrassing delay on promised features last week. Those are problems, not fiascos, and problems happen. They're inevitable. Leaders prove their mettle and create their legacies not by how they deal with successes but by how they deal with — how they acknowledge, understand, adapt, and solve — problems. The fiasco is that Apple pitched a story that wasn't true, one that some people within the company surely understood wasn't true, and they set a course based on that.
Gruber said the personalized Siri features announced during the WWDC keynote last year were merely conceptual, and therefore "bullshit":
What Apple showed regarding the upcoming "personalized Siri" at WWDC was not a demo. It was a concept video. Concept videos are bullshit, and a sign of a company in disarray, if not crisis.
He was even more explicit here:
You can stretch the truth and maintain credibility, but you can't maintain credibility with bullshit. And the "more personalized Siri" features, it turns out, were bullshit.
Gruber said Apple's repeated unwillingness or inability to demo the personalized Siri features in action since WWDC last year "should have set off blinding red flashing lights and deafening klaxon alarms" in his head that something was wrong.
Gruber went as far as saying that Apple's culture of excellence could be at risk if this situation is not handled correctly within the company:
Tim Cook should have already held a meeting like that to address and rectify this Siri and Apple Intelligence debacle. If such a meeting hasn't yet occurred or doesn’t happen soon, then, I fear, that's all she wrote. The ride is over. When mediocrity, excuses, and bullshit take root, they take over. A culture of excellence, accountability, and integrity cannot abide the acceptance of any of those things, and will quickly collapse upon itself with the acceptance of all three.
We're not going to get a first look at iOS 19 until the June Worldwide Developers Conference, but as work picks up on the operating system at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, rumors are starting to leak out. iOS 19 promises to be a major update, with some changes that we haven't seen Apple make for at least 10 years.
Overhauled Design
Apple is apparently planning to overhaul the design of all of its operating systems this year, including iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and macOS 16. The goal is a more unified design language and feature set that makes the transition from iPhone to Mac and vice versa feel like less of a shock.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says this will be the biggest update Apple has made to the iPhone's design since iOS 7 was released in 2013, and it's not just cosmetic, either.
Apple is planning to overhaul icons, menus, apps, windows, system buttons, and more, while also tweaking navigation and control.
The new look is based on the Apple Vision Pro interface, which features a lot of translucency and a design feel that causes the operating system to kind of fade into the background to put content front and center.
We've heard rumors of what the updated design will do to the Camera app, and it will supposedly have a look that provides more screen space for photo previews with translucent pop-out menus that can be swiped through to select different camera modes.
Apple Intelligence
Apple is going to expand Apple Intelligence features to more of its built-in apps, but we haven't heard a lot of rumors about what's to come. Prior to when iOS 18 came out, it was suggested Apple could use Apple Intelligence for things like generating Apple Music playlists, so that's an example of what we could see.
Siri Updates
We do know about some of the Apple Intelligence features coming, and that's because Apple actually announced them for iOS 18 and then had to delay them.
Apple planned to add new Apple Intelligence features to Siri in iOS 18, making the personal assistant smarter and perhaps actually useful, but Siri changes are now being held until iOS 19 or an update to iOS 19.
We're waiting on personal context, onscreen awareness, and deeper app integration. Personal context will let Siri keep track of everything on your iPhone, from emails and files to photos and messages, helping you complete tasks and find content that you're looking for without. Siri will be able to do things like find a specific photo someone sent you, locate files, or even find information like your passport number if you've written it down in notes.
With onscreen awareness, Siri will be able to see what's on your screen and complete actions involving what you're looking at. If someone sends you an address, for example, you can tell Siri to add it to their contact card.
Deeper app integration, or App Intents, should make a notable difference in what Siri is capable of. Siri will be able to do more in and across apps, performing actions and completing tasks that are just not possible right now. Apple says Siri will be able to do things like move files from one app to another, complete multi-step tasks like editing a photo and sending it to someone, and more.
Apple is also working on a full LLM version of Siri that would be similar to chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini, but with the iOS 18 Siri features delayed, it's likely LLM Siri won't be coming until at least iOS 20.
A Staggered Rollout
With iOS 18, not all features were in the update that we got in September. Key Apple Intelligence functions were held back until iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2, and that's a trend we could see continue with iOS 19.
Apple is holding back features slated for iOS 19 until spring 2026, at least in part due to the work on Siri Apple Intelligence features that were supposed to come in iOS 18.
Compatibility
Rumors suggest that iOS 19 will be compatible with all of the devices that can run iOS 18, so if you have iOS 18 installed, you should in theory be able to run iOS 19. There are typically always features that require the processing power of a newer device, so it's quite possible that some new additions could be limited to the upcoming iPhone 17 models.
Release Date
iOS 19 will be previewed at WWDC in June, then beta tested for several months before launching in September alongside new iPhones.
Read More
For more on what's coming in iOS 19, make sure to check out our iOS 19 roundup. If you want to keep up with rumors, you should bookmark the page, because we update it every time a new rumor comes out.
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